17 Weeks

I'm kind of jumping in a little late in the game, here.  I'm 17 weeks pregnant with twins and I have a 3 year old and a 20 month old right now.  I've been scouring the interwebs for some helpful blogs about people who have little ones and are going through (or have been through) pregnancies and births of twins or more.  I've found a few great blogs (will list them later) but still wish there was more.  I figure if I update this thing every now and then, maybe someone else can refer to it when they're in a similar situation.

In any case, it will probably be cool to come back and read this once the twins are heading off to high school.

So yeah, 17 weeks today.  I feel pretty big already.  Getting up off of the floor after changing M's diaper is tough.  Getting off the couch, well, it's not pretty.  Rolling from side to side in bed while keeping the pillow between my knees is a pain in the arse.

I shouldn't complain too much, though.  I had really bad nausea from weeks 5 through 9 but got major relief by wearing Sea Bands.  http://www.sea-band.com/  I'm not usually a crunchy, anti-medicine kinda person but there's not a lot you can do for nausea while prego.  So I ran out one night and put them on.

Voila.  I could eat Doritos to my hearts content.

In the last week or two, I've noticed the fatigue setting in.  Chasing two little boys around is pretty exhausting on a good day.  I'm a SAHM, so YES I WORK.  I resent when people say, "Oh so you don't work, then?" Don't even get me started.  YES I WORK.  I just don't get sick days, vacation days, conversation with adults, time to pee and poop in peace, you get the idea.

Anyways.

The fatigue.  Yes.  So yesterday my husband comes home early: 5:00 pm.  The boys run outside to play with him so I decide to clean up the house.  This involves running up and down a couple flights of stairs to get laundry, put things away, change sheets, make beds, clean up puzzles, get bath and night nights (PJs) ready.  Plus while the boys napped that day I made a side dish for dinner.

You hear that?  A side dish for dinner.  WTF was I thinking?!  It came out yummy, but that's besides the point.

So I had run around all day, topped it off with this 15 minutes of housework.  By the time I yelled out the window for the boys to come in for their bath, I was ready to DROP and VOM.  Holy crap.

Thankfully, my husband, C, has been picking up on what I need without my having to ask for it.  He helped me dress them for bed and sang our night night songs with us.  He's wonderful with them.  I could write an entire blog just about that.

That was all yesterday. Today I am still drained, but I did lay down while the boys napped (which wasn't nearly long enough, pft).  C got home early from work (1:30!!) so we had a pretty relaxing afternoon and even went out to dinner!

The boys were great, if a bit rowdy.  But we went to a rowdy kind of family place, so they fit right in.

Everyone has been in bed since 7-ish except me.  Here I sit, 2.5 hours later, trying to find...what am I looking for on here?  I'm 17 weeks pregnant and terrified of what might happen.  Once the babies are home, I know it will kinda suck.  Lack of sleep, taking care of two infants plus two bigger kids.  But that's not what scares me.

How long will my pregnancy last?  Will my babies need to be in the NICU?  How will I make it to the end of a twin pregnancy and still take adequate care of my two babies at home?  So many questions but no answers.  Everyone has a different experience in their twin pregnancy and labor and delivery.  I guess reading about all those different experiences leads me to see one thing.

No matter how far the pregnancy went, whether they had two babies, one baby or lost both babies, all these women are still carrying on, living their lives, and just trying to do the best they can.  Whether they live in the US or abroad, whether they can't wait for an epidural, or have a home birth that all the "experts" advised against, they're all moms just trying to listen to their bodies and hearts and doing the best they can with what they've been given.

So I guess my answer is clear.  I can't predict how many more weeks I have, or how healthy the babies will be.  God willing, I have two big fat healthy ones.  What I can do is keep living each day, loving my boys and my husband, and taking care of myself.  I'm lucky enough to have great care by great doctors who will help me get through safely.  The rest is TBD.

Please excuse the rambly nature, as this is my first post.  And I'm exhausted.  And I'm crying watching What Would You Do on ABC.  I hope this becomes a bit more cohesive as time goes on.  And I hope I don't have to get up more than twice to pee tonight.

Be good.
L