How this pregnancy has been different so far...

Who would know that an extra kid growing inside would mean such a drastic difference? There are so many things that are different so far, and I'm only 8 weeks along. With Macey I never had the appetite of a pig/cow/elephant/fill in the blank with any big eaters. With this pregnancy, I'm hungry 24/7, and I wish that was an exaggeration. I'll eat several breakfasts, a snack, lunch, another snack, dinner, snack, snack....you get the idea. Luckily I haven't gained any weight from the extra eating, just amazing how much more you're body needs for that extra little one growing. The nausea and headaches have been much worse this go around. Thinking back on when I was pregnant with Macey, that was nothing! And the exhaustion....wow. I'm sure it's only made worse by the fact that now I have a little one to care for and I don't really have the option to sleep whenever I feel like it. From what I have read, these are all normal twin pregnancy symptoms.....this is going to be one interesting ride. I told Sean get ready to have some fun. He always complained because with Macey I didn't have any "cravings" or any pig-out sessions. He was looking forward to catering to whatever I wanted. He's going to get what he wants with this pregnancy.

Besides the symptoms of pregnancy being different, I'm also taking lots more supplements than before. My doctor gave me a prescription for folic acid and iron as well as prenatal vitamins (which is 2 pills). I also take thyroid medicine (which I have for years). I have to split up taking the thyroid medicine and the prenatal vitamin because the vitamin can offset the effects of the thyroid medicine. So with Macey I would take my thyroid medicine in the morning and the prenatal vitamin in the evening. I can't take the extra iron and folic acid with the prenatal vitamin because it would be a bit much to absorb at the same time. So I feel like I need one of those pill timer things. The extra folic acid is due to having another baby growing and the extra iron is for me because it is easier to become anemic when carrying multiples.

I also have been referred to a perinatal specialist group. There is a twin program there and it starts on week 22 (so end of June). I'm guessing that this will mean more ultrasounds to make sure the babies are growing properly. I'll continue to go to my regular doctor, but also have appointments with this group.


Michelle

Heads are spinning

Soooooo, the Hardemans are increasing by 2....how did that happen? That's exactly what we're asking ourselves. We are 8 weeks pregnant with TWINS (does that ever sink in?). I found out last Thursday. I went to the dr. by myself and boy was that an adventure. I got there around 7:30 for my 7:45 appointment. Fast forward to the ultrasound, which was only suppose to tell me how far along I was since I had no clue. The first image I saw looked like there were 2, but of course I was waiting on the dr. to say something because I'm not an ultrasound viewing expert. She smirked and said, "you've got 2"...to which I immediately said, "Shut up, you're kidding, that's some fluke or something." It wasn't a fluke...and the hours ahead only drove that in more and more. The ultrasound in the room kept freezing up (much like my brain), so she couldn't get a close up to measure the babies (plural...huh). So they sent me back to the other more sophisticated ultrasound room and that's where I found out I was 7 weeks 1 day pregnant. The tech gave me a picture of them in a split screen, with the labels "baby A" and "baby B". The official due date is October 29, 2008, however, most twin pregnancies do not reach 40 weeks, so they will likely be here at the beginning of October or so. From what I recall (my brain went to mush as soon as I heard, "you've got 2"), they are not identical. Their heartbeats were 140 and 138 (Baby A having the slightly faster heart rate), and the ultrasound tech said that Baby A is slightly bigger than Baby B, which is normal.

About 3+ hours after I left the house I made it back. I had sent Sean a text message from the Dr.'s office to tell him what the due date was. There was no way I was telling him over the phone that there were 2 babies. I get home and try to subtly tell Sean that it's twins. His brain wasn't comprehending, so finally I just said, "it's twins". His reaction was much like mine in the dr.'s office. However, at that point I had about 3 hours on him since I heard the news, so it was starting to "sink" in.

A week later we are still trying to get our heads around it. There are plenty of people that have done this before us and we aren't the last, so I know we'll eventually figure it out, but a week later, we're still in the "huh" phase.