20 Weeks! Halfway There and Anatomy Scan!

I will confess, I turned 21 weeks today...whoops! However, I took my 20 week pictures on time and it was a pretty eventful week...so I will not be skipping it!

Here I am at exactly 20 weeks!! 

(I normally take my weekly pictures around the middle of any given week, and it's nice to have a few pictures of me wearing some real clothes!)

Week 20 was actually pretty good for me! First of all, we are halfway to full term!! I don't really know when these babies will be born and statistics definitely indicate that they will most likely come early which means that 20 weeks was more than halfway, but it still feels like a big milestone to me! The next milestone is 24 weeks, which is traditionally considered viability. I have heard that some NICUs will resuscitate as early as 22 weeks, but there is very little hope that early on. Then at 28 weeks the chances of the babies' surviving is dramatically improved. So those are our goals right now, first 24 weeks and then 28. As we pass each of those goals we will set new, later ones.

As was hinted at in my last post, we did some work on the nursery this week. Nathan and I painted a small mural on the wall which I will post about very soon! We are definitely not artists, but it is such a fun, personal touch to the nursery. I have also gone a little crazy with the cloth diaper buying this last week. It's so much more fun now that we know that we're having boys!! I will probably try to write a post a little later on once I have my diaper stash mostly complete. We've been trying to spread our diaper purchases out over several months, but this week I definitely didn't follow that plan very well.

Full disclosure (and a little too much information) here, we made a trip to OB Triage at the hospital (per the recommendation of my OB) on Sunday due to a gush that turned out to be nothing worrisome, best guess is I peed myself (or just really crazy pregnancy discharge)... Oh the indignities of pregnancy, but I will probably never be happier in my life to have had "an accident." I debated with myself about whether I would say anything about that little trip since everything was ok and well, it really is a little TMI. In the end, I decided that when I look back on this pregnancy I want to remember what it was really like. The roller coaster ups and downs, the excitement and fear. I also want to portray a very real view about what a twin pregnancy is  like. Knowing that you have twins and are higher risk changes everything. I'll admit that I'm a worrier by nature, but knowing that I'm at a higher risk  for just about every pregnancy complication known to mankind and that preterm labor is a very real possibility, makes me more cautious and anxious about  symptoms than I might be otherwise.

Now that we've discussed the "down," let's move on to the "up!" We had our anatomy scan on Wednesday and both babies look great!! In fact, it seems that I am growing little giants in there!! In spite of my weight gain being on the low end of average for a  twin pregnancy and the fact that I still continuously get comments about how "small" I am, both babies are well above average size for even singletons! The scan was done yesterday at 20 weeks and 6 days. They gather a whole bunch of measurements (several head measurements, belly measurements, and legs) and use those to calculate how much the babies weigh. Just to give you an idea, 12 oz is pretty standard for this time period but there is a lot of variation as you will see. Baby A weighed in at 16 oz, which is a whole pound!!! Baby B weighed in at 15 oz!! Baby A was in the 90th percentile (calculated based off of singleton pregnancies) and Baby B was in the 85th. All of their organs looked good on the scan (baby B wouldn't turn over for one view of his heart, so they will try to get it at my next ultrasound). We also confirmed that they are both still boys!! To add to my over share from earlier, the measured the length of my cervix on the ultrasound and it was measuring at 5 cm which is a really good measurement. Nothing is a guarantee, but hopefully knowing that my body is currently doing what it needs to in order to keep these babies inside will help me worry a little less.

The boys were laying mostly transverse and curled around each other like a ying-yang. Baby A's head  was on the left and Baby B's head was on the right with them each kicking their brother in the head!! They seem to have very different personalities already. Baby A is more active and likes to be a show-off while Baby B is a little more mellow and shy. The ultrasound took about an hour and a half and we got to talk to the doctor about the results right away afterwards.

Baby A gave us a perfect profile shot, but Baby B insisted on facing us the whole time. I wish that our ultrasound tech would have tried a little harder to get a good picture of Baby B, but the great thing about twins is that it won't be too long until I see them again!

Well, this post is turning into a book!! I will get on with posting my weekly survey and pictures now, so that I don't take up anyone's entire day...

Week 20!!

Weight: 147 (+11 lbs overall)
Due Date: August 22, 2013

Genders?: Both Boys!
Baby is the size of: A Banana - babies are measured from head to foot starting at 20 weeks instead of head to rump (note: all sizes are comparing the length of baby to a fruit)

Maternity Clothes?: Oh yes! I can technically still fit into a couple of my pre-pregnancy shirts, but they are starting to get short and show the elastic band of my maternity pants. 
Symptoms: Lots of back aches. Still sleeping well at night though!
Emotions: Relieved that we have two healthy babies!
Notable News or Events: Telling everyone that we are having BOYS!!

Movement?: I am 100% positive that I am feeling the babies move now. Well, I might just be feeling one of them, I certainly can't tell them apart yet. I get little nudges and gentle thumps throughout the day now, especially when I am resting quietly. I even felt a couple of movements on the outside on Tuesday! Nathan got to feel one as well. He seemed really excited about it, but a little bit skeptical about whether it was really a baby or not...but trust me, the timing was  perfect with the kick that I felt inside! 

Stretch Marks?: I will be honest here, my boobs are suddenly covered in stretch marks and it's pretty depressing. I was fully anticipating getting stretchmarks on my belly and was prepared mentally for that. I have always been small chested and have gone up about a cup size. So while they have grown, it's not dramatic...but here I am with stretch marks! Oh well, it is what it is...but it just wasn't something that I was expecting. My belly still seems to be doing alright on this front for now, but my skin is starting to itch more and more lately. 

Upcoming Appointments: Sometime in May, I'm too lazy to go downstairs and find the appointment card right now.

What People are Saying: Everyone is really happy about my "big boys!" Nathan's mom is really starting to get excited and has bought some clothes them already as well. My mom bought some nice onesies at a thrift store over the weekend too. Nathan is definitely becoming much more attached and will sit with me with his hand on my belly while we watch tv sometimes. There have been lots of jokes about the boys taking after their daddy since my husband is a tall guy (6'3"). I went to a Moms of Multiples meeting yesterday and unfortunately was told a couple of times that I look so small still. I felt like sticking my tongue out at them and bragging about how big my boys actually were, but I kept my mouth shut like my mom taught me to. 

The pictures were clearly taken right after I got out of the shower. Honestly, my hair didn't look this bad in the mirror. It's exciting to see my belly start to round out. My belly is all the way up to my ribs now (and Baby B is pretty darn high up there too!) and the flat spot around my belly button is finally looking a little rounder.