How Many Weeks: 20 as of today! More than halfway there (average gestation for twins is 35.5 weeks) – I can’t believe it!
Babies Update: The babies are now approximately 10-11 inches long head to toe and about 10-11 ounces each (the fruit this week is a banana). They’re also in the middle of a growth spurt which is probably why I’ve been pretty tired this last week.
Weight Gain: 16 pounds so far. I’ve been gaining RAPIDLY lately, about 1.5-2 pounds per week. I’ve read that the second trimester is the ideal time for weight gain as it’s quite common for twin moms to maintain or even lose weight toward the end of pregnancy (which is generally shorter than a singleton pregnancy anyway). My clothes are definitely tighter all over, not just in my belly!
Movement: Yessss. Around 17 weeks I started feeling them, particularly Baby A (who I found out at my ultrasound is on my left side). Baby B is on my right side but her placenta is toward the outside of my belly so I can’t feel her as much. Baby A moves daily and even Mike can even feel her from the outside which is really fun!
Symptoms: Growing pains – I FEEL pregnant now. My belly is getting larger and in the way – sleep is more awkward as I’m no longer supposed to sleep on my back according to my doctor (though I find myself there often). (I’m showing about as big as I was at 31 weeks with Siena – photo here).
Cravings/Food Aversions: We hosted a Friendsgiving the Saturday before Thanksgiving and had a ton of leftover turkey. I was simply addicted to turkey sandwiches and had 5 of them over the course of 2 days. After hosting Thanksgiving we had leftovers again and I continued to eat the sandwiches but they weren’t quite as addicting this time. The only real food aversion I have is shrimp.
Purchasing/Borrowing: I’ve mostly stopped buying things for now as the holidays are approaching and we’re saving up for our mini-van (I know…I know…).
Maternity Clothes: I’m about 60/40 maternity clothes/regular clothes, with most of my workout clothes being my old stuff, though some of the tops are starting to be too short. I prefer wearing higher things to show that I’m pregnant, otherwise if things are baggy I just feel large. I’m even wearing a pair of regular jeans right now but it’s only because they are my friend Allison’s in between jeans that she let me borrow – they are a size bigger than I normally wear. My normal jeans definitely do not fit.
Exercise: Still running! I’ve been exercising on average about 6 days week and feeling pretty good. I ran the 10K at the Encinitas Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving at 19 weeks pregnant and was really happy with myself for completing it. I’ve continued to run, though I’ve lost a couple running buddies and am not feeling super motivated to run on my own, so my mileage is down. Taking it week by week at this point. I’m also doing 21 Day Fix (I’ll be writing a post soon on how I modify for pregnancy) and some yoga. Yoga feels soooo good! I need to do it more!
Interesting Moments: I had my 18 week anatomy scan and it went really well! I got to see both babies in extreme detail, down to the 4 chambers of each of their hearts (it took 1.5 hours!). I now know that Twin A is on my left and is the one I can feel kicking. Twin B is on my right and her placenta is up against the outside of my belly so it’s less likely I’ll feel her. During the ultrasound, Twin A was the wild child and Twin B was the calm one. I wonder if they’ll be like that on the outside too!?!
Best Moments: Siena hugging and kissing my belly! Sometimes she’ll look at it and say “It’s getting big.” She will also ask for them to come out and we have to tell her that they need to stay in a while longer. She is very excited and proud to be a big sister. We also had a good family photo shoot with my talented cousin (her website is here if you are in Orange County, LA or San Diego!). I probably won’t do professional maternity photos so the couple we took of me alone are probably it! I feel like my pregnancy is pretty well documented otherwise!
Funny Moments: Mike walking in from his basketball game at 9 PM and seeing me on the couch eating a turkey sandwich, after I already ate one for dinner before he left.
Missing: Sleeping on my back and stomach, long runs with friends, wine and beer….
Looking Forward To: Getting our Christmas tree this weekend, Siena to take a photo with Santa next week (she’s really into him, we’ll see how she feels when she sees him in real life), and all the fun parties we have scheduled this month!
Any mini-van owners out there? Tell me why you love it!!!
Don’t forget, if you’re pregnant, you can join my Healthy & Happy Pregnancy and Postpartum support group on Facebook! Join here.
Ok I am a mini van owner and refuse to get rid of it. My “babies” are 19 and 21. It is a 2008 Chrysler Town and Country with stow and go seats and I keep it for one reason only. My tri bike fits so nicely inside of it!!!!! I am the designated driver when we do out of town races so our bikes never have to be outside.
Haha that’s awesome! I’m sold becuase of the storage capacity for sure! And the sliding doors. Anything that will save me 5 minutes every time I leave the house is gold.
It’s really just so impressive how active you still are. You are just glowing!
Thank you so much!! It makes me happy!
We love our minivan!! The sliding doors are awesome with baby car seats and also pretty older kids from swinging open doors into other cars. We debated between the pilot and odyssey and the odyssey won because of more storage and better gas mileage.