I did a pretty good job of writing weekly updates when I was pregnant with the boys over two years ago. I enjoyed doing it and I think our family, who all live at various distances from us, all enjoyed those weekly updates as well. This time, I've been a little slack on updates. I'm not going to promise to start now, but I'd like to do a few updates here and there. So let's start now!!
I just went back and looked through my updates from my last pregnancy and I was surprised to see that I'm right on track. 18 weeks was exactly when I started doing weekly updates. How fortuitous!
On Wednesday I'll be 18 weeks along. Hard to believe that we are nearing the midway point already!! Here's what we know so far:
Size of baby: At my ultrasound last week (right at 17 weeks, 0 days) baby was estimated to be about 7 ounces. Right on track.
Pregnancy Symptoms: Overall, I've had a relatively easy time. I've been taking a vitamin B6 and vitamin D3 each morning and a prenatal with dinner. If I remember I also take a calcium supplement that has some extra D3 in it around lunch time. But more often than not, I forget that one. The B6 and the D3, I believe, have helped stave off the fatigue and nauseousness I've had in previous pregnancies. So overall, I feel good!
Food aversions/cravings: Nothing in particular. My husband likes that, so far, I haven't completely gagged at any food he's made (unlike the time when I couldn't do red beans and rice AT ALL during a pregnancy). As far as cravings, again nothing in particular. I'm just wanting to eat more and more, but I'm trying to make healthy choices and keep the unhealthy things to a minimum. Because you know, you can't be pregnant and avoid chocolate. That just wouldn't be natural! Which leads me to ...
Weight gain: Unfortunately, I started this pregnancy about 20 pounds heavier than where I started out with the boys. So I am trying to keep things under control and not overdue it. I don't need to be left with 50 extra pounds after the baby is born. So far, by my calculations on my scale at home, I have gained roughly 5 pounds. I feel like that is pretty good. I just keep hoping the baby will feed off those extra 20 pounds for a while and maybe I won't gain much more weight. Hahaha! One can still hope, right?
Maternity clothes: Yep. Started wearing them about two weeks ago. My sister gave me all of hers, most of which are too small for me. Her old maternity pants mostly work so I can wear those, but her tops were almost all too small. Between her stuff and my own stuff I am pretty set for winter. Since it's July I figured that wouldn't work. What summer tops I did have were mostly casual and not good for work. So I went out and bought a couple tops to add to the mix and so far I'm making do.
Belly-button: I'm surprised at how much it is already stretched out! Combo of baby and the extra weight I'm still carrying, I'm sure. I give it 2 maybe 3 more weeks.
Baby movement: None yet. At least nothing I have distinguished as the baby.
Singleton vs. Twins: I keep thinking I haven't grown much and it feels weird. I have to remind myself that I grew a lot faster last time because there were two babies in there. Only one this time so, of course, I haven't ballooned out yet. It feels very strange to see how small my pooch is. I think the maternity clothes are mostly for those extra 20 pounds that have all been pushed up to make room for my growing uterus. Seriously.
Other symptoms: It just wouldn't be pregnancy without a few fun things thrown in, right? So leg cramps are back. Yay! I'm adding coconut water to my OJ in the morning and trying to eat a banana every few days. After talking to Dr. M today (my regular OB) I realized I need to start chugging more water (and those that know me know that all I drink it water) and paying attention to my calcium intake. We think I get enough calcium, but since I haven't paid attention to that specifically, I need to start. In the end, some people are just more prone to leg cramps, so there may not be anything I can do. But I'll be trying anyway. Sleeping has been fine so far, no issues there yet. That's actually another difference between this pregnancy and the last one. By this time last time I think I already had the pregnancy pillow out. Lastly, restless leg (and arm) syndrome. I hate this one so much!! The potassium in the bananas and coconut water for leg cramps also helps in this case too. I need to start getting more magnesium. I found this article to help me in my food choices in this respect. A friend also recommended a magnesium lotion. I haven't searched one out yet, but I'm very tempted to!
Ultrasound: Ultrasound was last week. No, we are not finding out gender. The baby looks really good. Hands, feet, head, organs all there, umbilical cord was normal, etc. It was kind of weird to me how quick it was considering in my last pregnancy there were two babies to look at, plus blood flow between them and their shared placenta and always checking the membranes between them and the fluid levels in each sac. So yeah, this ultrasound was so much more straightforward and shorter. But, as important as anatomy is, the biggest thing for me at this ultrasound was the cervical length check.
Cervix: My cervical length measured at 4.3 cm. This is REALLY good! Anything between 3 and 4 is considered normal. So 4.3 ... let's throw a party! Dr. O (the MFM doctor) was pleased and didn't think a cerclage was necessary at this time. Plus, he explained, the uterus has already expanded to a pretty high degree (twins to 36w, 5d), so the pressure on my cervix is a lot less this time around than the last time. Overall, my conversation with Dr. O was encouraging and made me feel better. I go back in a little over a week for another look.
I think that about does it for this update. This is plenty long as it is anyway and one of my keyboard keys just broke, again! It slows down my typing and is just plain annoying. So good night for now!
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