So I've made it through 7 months (28 weeks) of twin pregnancy. I still have a long way to go, hopefully. It sure hasn't been easy.
I spent the first few weeks after I found out we were having twins in panic mode. I had to wait 3 weeks to see a doctor, so I decided to educate myself as much as possible and by as many means possible while I waited. I joined the Mother's of Twins Club (MOTC) in town, contacted all the twin mom's I knew, and stocked up on twin pregnancy books. I got a lot of really great, helpful information, but it was super overwhelming. Preterm labor, NICU, low birth weight, diet, activity (or lack there of), etc...I all of a sudden had a million more things to worry about. I was hoping my dr. would give me some peace of mind, but she didn't seem to know much about multiple pregnancy at all (woman told me to try not to gain too much weight, but that's exactly the opposite of what I had read and heard from other mom's who delivered term, good size babies). That, along with the fact that only 2 or 3 of the doctors at that office would vaginally deliver twins (out of 15ish), left me with a sick feeling. I began searching for a doctor that had experience with twins, prenatal care and vaginal delivery, and that would be on call for me when I go into labor instead of just whoever was there at the time.
I found a really great OBGYN through the MOTC who was more than comfortable and experienced with multiples, so that was one less thing I had to worry about. It wasn't long after I started seeing him that he started sending me to a specialist for tests. With twins that share a placenta (like mine), there are a lot more complications that can occur. One of those is called Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTT), which basically means one baby gets more (the other less) blood flow. We had a scare there for a while when one twin hardly grew in two weeks. There was more than 25% difference in their size. Two weeks later though, they measured them again and they had both gained the same amount of weight. There was still a discrepancy, but at least they were growing at a normal rate.
There's is also a test that they do to determine if you might go into preterm labor (Fetal Fibronectin Test). I've been testing positive since they started testing me at 24 weeks. For that reason, my doctors recommended getting steroid shots to help the babies lungs mature faster in case they do arrive super early. So, as a precaution, I went ahead and got those. The day after I decided to go ahead with the shots, I came down with a horrible stomache flu. I woke up one morning with an upset stomache, took a sip of water, and started vomiting. I think I vomited for 3 hours straight so we decided to go to the emergency room. I couldn't keep anything down and with all the violent vomiting I was doing, I was scared it might trigger contractions. I got checked into triage, they put me on an iv of fluids, gave me antinausea medication, and hooked me up to contraction monitors. About an hour later, I was feeling much better and once my doctor came and checked on me and I held down a sprite, I was on my way home. I had a few minor contractions, but nothing hard or long enough to trigger true labor. They pretty much went away after I stopped vomiting.
So as of right now, I am going for ultrasound tests every week. One week they measure the babies to check for TTT, the next week they do a biophysical profile (check babies lungs, brain, heart, bloodflow through the umbilical cord, amount of amniotic fluid, and muscle tone/movement) and do a nonstress test (monitor their heartbeats and contractions) and do a vaginal ultrasound to make sure my cervix is holding up. It really feels like an overkill to me and I wonder how much these tests are really helping my babies, but my doctors think they are necessary.
My last TTT test was last Thursday and the girls had grown a ton (12oz and 14oz) and the smaller baby is now only 3oz behind her sister. They are measuring at 2lbs 7oz and 2lbs 10oz. A twin mom friend of mine told me to pray specifically for things, so for the last week I've been praying that the girls measure at 2.5lbs, which I thought was a stretch, but praise God for his faithfulness! I'm now praying that they gain 0.5lb a week until birth (which is the norm). If they do and I can carry them till at least 35 weeks, they will avoid low birth weight status and hopefully be able to stay out of the NICU!
So that's pretty much it for now. I'm just trying to take it one day at a time and rest as much as possible. At 7 months I already feel like I did when I was 9 months with August (probably because I'm already as big, if not bigger than I was then). As usual, I've done a horrible job documenting my belly growth...I've been waiting to take pictures when I look decent, but that doesn't happen too often these days. Oh well. Here is the proof:
So here I am, 32 weeks pregnant with Augsut...
and 28 weeks with the girls (way bigger). (trying to take a picture of myself while talking to august doesn't make a pretty picture, but at least you can see my belly. also, i'm using a mac and i have no idea how to rotate the picture on it so it's still sideways.)
Here's me and August at 37 weeks...
and me again at 28 weeks with the girls (twin belly wins again!).
I actually measured my belly and it's the same size around as it was just a few weeks before I had August (42"). I really want to carry these girls for 2 more months, but I sometimes I wonder how much bigger I can get!
