Yesterday I turned 26 weeks pregnant with our twin boys. Only two more weeks until the third trimester, which seems crazy! After a tumultuous first trimester, I’m happy to report that the second trimester has been smooth sailing.

I’m currently huge … measuring six weeks ahead (32 weeks) and am daily getting the “any day now!” comments from nice strangers. The look of horror on their faces when I tell them I’m not due until June is pretty funny. :)

The boys are growing healthy and strong from what we can tell. They’re both measuring the same for estimated size … 60th% for all babies, and have strong heartbeats. They’re being cooperative guys for now and are in the optimal head down position side by side. Baby B is very active all throughout the day and night, while baby A is quiet except for at 4am when he gets his groove thang on.

I’m feeling good, other than typical pregnancy complaints. Namely bloody noses, leg cramps, back pain, insomnia, shortness of breath, exhaustion and broken blood vessels on my face. I also am at the point where I cannot walk more than four blocks without feeling pain and pressure. But for a twin pregnancy, this is all par for the course, so I am not complaining.

The biggest worry right now is pre-term labor. 51% of twins are born preterm, which can mean a nicu stay and possibilities for long-term disabilities. Thankfully my body seems to be handling the pregnancy well so far and I don’t have any signs of preterm labor.

Our “goal” is 36 weeks gestation, with 38 weeks being ideal. I’d love the boys to have a birth weight above 6 lbs each, which is great for twins. Lila was just 6 lbs 9 oz, so we’ll see. Finally, I am hoping to avoid any nicu time and have the babies with me immediately.

I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to move around or if I’ll have to be on bedrest, so I’ve been nesting a little earlier than a typical pregnancy. We have the nursery mostly ready. We did a travel theme this time complete with a vintage map wall mural, antique suitcases as a nightstand and a cool vintage globe. We still have to get another crib, bedding and Luke is working on building storage into their closet so I can start organizing the massive amount of baby boy clothes my friends have handed down to us.

We also got Lila situated in her new room. I read that we should do it early, so she doesn’t feel like it’s a punishment once the boys arrive. We got her a new pink chandelier to make it special for her.

We’re all starting to get very excited to welcome these boys into our family. The next few months are going to be tough physically for me, so prayers and encouragement are appreciated. I know it will all be a distant memory once those babies are laying in my arms.

If you follow me on Facebook, then you likely saw our recent announcement. If not, here it is…

We are expecting twin boys!! We are beyond excited!! Here’s how this blessing came to be.

If you’ve been following along on our fertility journey, you know that we had unexplained secondary infertility after an early miscarriage. After undergoing a surgery this spring, we decided to try on our own for another six months before seeking more help. That six months went by without any luck, so we turned to our amazing doctor, Dr. Shamma here in Toledo for assistance.

We followed his advice to a T and our treatments were successful. I cannot say enough good things about Dr. Shamma and his staff. They made a very stressful situation as positive as it could be.

My first trimester started off filled with excitement and joy that I was finally pregnant. Soon enough morning sickness reared it’s ugly head and I was so sick it was debilitating. I was pretty sick with Lila, but twin sickness was a whole new ballgame.

Thankfully I started taking Diclegis, which is a morning sickness medication made up of B6 and antihistamine, that took the edge off enough for me to be functional. Before that I was literally laying on the ground trying not to vomit much of the day. Even on Diclegis I had serious food aversions and  all-day nausea. Lets just say I have a TON of respect for women who have hyperemesis gravidarum. 

Other than morning sickness I had a very stressful and scary two weeks around weeks 12-13. I began spotting and then bleeding every night around 4am. It would stop in the morning, but each night I woke to the same nightmare. After having a miscarriage and infertility, any spotting is terrifying. Every time it happened, I would get an ultrasound, both babies looked great and there was no visible reason for the bleeding. Then around 14 weeks it stopped and hasn’t happened again. Thank goodness.

While I was so sick and having spotting, I was essentially on bedrest, which put a huge burden on Luke and our extended family to help out. Lila was definitely impacted by it all and for a few bad weeks was very angry with me. I went from her full-time caregiver to barely around. She would hardly even look at me for awhile! Thankfully I begin to feel less nauseous around week 16 and our relationship rebounded instantly.

I am 20 weeks today and besides some exhaustion, I am feeling good. My bump is pretty large and the babies are big as well. At my last appointment at 18 weeks, my belly was measuring 7 weeks ahead (compared to a singleton pregnancy)! However, I’m not too uncomfortable and am still sleeping well, so no complaints here.

The boys are fraternal twins, meaning they are like two separate siblings just born at the same time. I had my anatomy scan a week or so ago and both looked perfectly healthy and ACTIVE! On the ultrasound they were already rough-housing, with the top boy smacking the bottom one in the head. Don’t worry, the bottom one quickly retaliated and hit his brother right back. It was hilarious to watch.

I have a long way to go in this pregnancy and I’m sure pretty soon it will start to get uncomfortable and challenging, but for now I am just basking in my happiness about bringing two precious boys into our family. Lila says they’ll both be named “Lila” and can wear some of her jammies that are in boy colors. :)

Our journey to conceive these babies was not easy, but I would go through it all again to get to this same conclusion. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart for encouraging me to keep going when it got tough.