Twins vs. singleton pregnancy

I just wanted to sleep! Why can't women hibernate when they get pregnant?  I mean, come on, you know it would be better for everyone.  I'm sure my husband would have voted for this.  He was so great with putting up with my mood swings, my tiredness and my whining about being so tired. He even picked up the slack with taking care of most things around the house. I remember being tired and being frustrated that I was so tired when I was pregnant the first go round but this time I had a 2 year old and couldn't nap whenever I needed too. There are some big differences that I'd like to share in this post.

#1 No midwives and way more ultrasounds and doctor visits - With my first pregnancy I went through Midwive Services of Iowa.  I loved the midwives and was looking forward to having them for this next pregnancy.  But the midwives don't do high risk pregnancies and twin pregnancies are in that category. Great, a whole new set of doctors to get to know. Like a dozen or more compared to the four midwives. It was alright, no big deal, at least that's what I thought at first. But the OBGYN office that I went through was much bigger and there were so many doctors. But it was OK because most of my appointments were for ultrasounds anyway. I started having ultrasounds every two weeks and by the end weekly. I lost track of how many I actually had with the boys. With a singleton pregnancy you get maybe one or two unless something is wrong. I spoke with the ultrasound doctors after every ultrasound. There were only two of them and both were great. I liked them and trusted them. Not so much with my doctor office. At first it was great and then they started scheduling me with different doctors. I did not feel at ease when I had an appointment and the doctor walked in the room and didn't even know I was having twins and had not reviewed the 3-4 ultrasounds I had since my last prenatal check up. It's all in the computer system, which is all linked together, seriously!?! FRUSTRATING and not very professional. I liked the first couple doctors I saw and was going to go back to them had I not had the boys early.

Kyleigh saying brothers while looking at the Ultrasound Pictures

Ultrasound pictures at 17 weeks

#2 Weight gain and eating challenges. I could have ate anyone under the table when I was pregnant with Kyleigh. With the boys, I had no appetite. The doctors wanted me to gain 22 pounds by week 22.  With one they say you don't really need to put on any extra weight before week 20.  I was at week 16 or 17 when they told me this and had gained maybe 5 pounds. So, 5 weeks to put on 17 pounds, doesn't sound too hard, right?  Wrong! Eating for three with the goal of gaining weight is a challenge. Especially when your insides are being pushed all around and crowded by the growing babies. So, they gave me a list of foods to focus on. Boost shakes with everything. Make a milkshake and use Boost and ice cream. If your going to eat fruit and veggies add dip. Always add dip. This was like the list of no no's for anyone on a diet. Basically the healthy eating habits that I had worked so hard for after Kyleigh, toss those out the window. I thought, challenge accepted! I bought the boost shakes and drank them. I ate fast food way more than I should have and chocolate milk and cookies. I said screw the fruit and veggies and salads and bring on the fries and fried food and frosty's from Wendy's. If it takes to much energy to chew, not going to eat it. Lets just say, my eating habits have not fully recovered.

#3 SO TIRED!  Did I mention how tired I was? I was so tired!! I could have slept 20 hours a day at least.

#4 Your second pregnancy is always harder due to the fact that you have at least one other child that needs your attention. This is not necessarily related to twin pregnancy but just something I'd like to point out. I was thankful for the gates in our house. I most definitely locked all the gates and turned on Disney Junior and fell asleep on the couch(if Kyleigh would let me). Sometimes, Kyleigh was so sweet and she let me rest and would cuddle next to me. And sometimes she'd poke my eyeballs or open my eyelids and insist I watch whatever was on TV with her.

#5 Much looser down there.  So, as the babies grew Luke's feet were very low. And every time he kicked I would get nervous that he was just going to kick out or that I'd wipe and there might be a foot sticking out.  Kyleigh paved a nice pathway and things had not fully tightened back up. And the weight of two seemed to add a lot of pressure in my lady parts. Too bad I had to have a c-section because I'm pretty sure they would have just slid right out.  (this is not really related to twins either since I've heard this with second pregnancies) And, some of you are thinking TMI but seriously I still pee a little when I sneeze or laugh to hard and my bladder is full.  So, if you see me cross my legs when I sneeze or refuse to do jumping jacks in exercise class, this is why. Now it's really too much information, right?

#6 SO SO TIRED!  So tired.  Again, I know I had to mention it again just in case you missed it the first couple of times. So tired.  Did you know that the babies get all the good stuff from what you eat and the momma gets the leftovers. (I think that's how it works or at least that's how it feels)  So, I felt like I couldn't get enough in to actually have any sort of energy.  And with Kyleigh I gave up most caffeine and only had maybe a tea here or there.  Not everyday and not more than once a day.  With the boys, I drank coffee, everyday and sometimes more than just one cup. Had too!

#7 In pregnancy clothes at 11 weeks. Almost as soon as I found out I was pregnant with twins I was pulling the pregnancy clothes out of the closet. I didn't get pregnancy clothing until about week 20 with my first.  At least I went from that awkward looking fat stage to definitely pregnant quicker.  In case your not a mom reading this, let me explain.  For a while at the beginning of the pregnancy there is this time where you just look like you're getting fat.  And it kind of sucks.  Your not quite ready for pregnancy clothes and you don't quite look pregnant.  So, ya, glad that was shorter with the twins.

24ish weeks pregnant with the twins

Ok, there's really not a ton different about pregnancy with twins.  Just more appointments, more tired and bigger faster.  Also, the chances of delivering early increase dramatically. Something like 50% of pregnancy of multiples, deliver early. That's the reason for so many ultrasounds and why they watch you a bit closer.  Identical twins are a little higher risk for problems because they often only have one sac and one placenta. My boys were lucky and each had their own sac but shared a placenta.  There's stuff that can happen like one baby getting more nutrients or taking good stuff from the other baby which can result in a much smaller birth size for one or one baby not making it, etc...

So, there you have it. Hope you laughed a little. BJ and I laughed often about some of these things. Had too! Especially, when you're pregnant in July and get poison ivy because your sister had it and walked into your house. I swear I didn't touch her.  But I got poison ivy, bad on my neck and chest and all down my side.  I guess pregnancy can heighten your sensitivity to that kind of stuff.  As if me, pregnant wasn't bad enough, lets add poison ivy and prednisone for three weeks. Something to laugh about now for sure.  At the time I was a bit miserable but we found humor in it.  It's better than being mopey all the time. Laughter really is the best medicine.

Kyleigh, BJ and I in July