Week 15 and Week 16

I am doing two weeks in one because these weeks were so perfect and beyond uneventful!! Everything has been going great. My next appointments are scheduled for February 21^st with both the Maternal Fetal Specialist and my regular OB. I have completely switched around on this pregnancy. I was so sick before, now I feel like eating all of the time. But it is funny because I am VERY picky on what I eat. And I already am one of the world’s pickiest eaters, and both of my guys will tell you that is the truth for sure!!!!!!

I am feeling much more relaxed and have definitely felt movement!! It isn’t a lot, just a bit of fluttering here and there. I feel Baby A (who is on my right side) much more than I feel Baby B. It is amazing that they are finally big enough to be getting felt when they move!!! I love the feeling and try nightly to get them to be felt through my stomach. I can’t wait until the guys get to come and feel this with their own hands. I am sure they won’t want to move when they are feeling them.

On Valentine’s Day, I decided to take my very first belly shot. I know it isn’t much, but I think I am at that point where I finally have a bit of a pop. So here is the belly shot:

On to week 17!! Wow….week 17!!!! I can’t believe we are almost near the half way mark!!!

Week 15:

Your appetite may be growing and you do need all the proper nutrition you can get for your baby twins.

By week 15 of your twin pregnancy your may feel some movement. Your babies are more active inside uterus and some may even be sucking thumbs.

Babies' eyebrows are starting to grow as well as the hair on their heads. Babies veins are visible through their thin skin. Your babies are getting covered with fine hair or what is technically known as lanugo.

Depending on the type of twins your are carrying, especially if they share one placenta, or if your twin pregnancy is categorized as high risk for any reason, you will be having more ultrasounds from now on.

Here is a bit more about week 16:

By 16 weeks, your twins will grow to 6 inches/ 14.2 centimetres long from crown to rump. They now weigh about 7 ounces/ 190 grams each. Your twins' unique fingerprints are already in place. And when you poke your stomach gently and they feel it, your twins will start rooting and sucking whatever is in front of their mouths, whether it is a hand, foot or an umbilical cord. This sucking reflex will give them the training they need for breastfeeding after birth.

If one or both of your twins are girls, they will now have approximately 2 million eggs in their ovaries; and they will have only a million by the time they're born. They will have fewer eggs as they get older, and by age 17, the number will have dropped to 200,000.

The fetuses' bodies are now growing faster than their heads. Your twins' parchment-thin skin covers itself with thick, downy hair called lanugo. Though eyebrows are beginning to grow and the hair on top of the head is sprouting, this hair may change in both texture and colour after birth.

Their legs are growing longer than the arms now, fingernails are fully formed and all the joints and limbs can move. You may be able to find out the sex of your babies by ultrasound now, since the external genitals may be developed enough that a sonographer can tell you if your twins are boys or girls.

At 16 weeks your twins' skeletons are mostly rubbery cartilage, which will harden later. A protective substance called myelin slowly begins to wrap around the spinal cord.

Their chests move up and down to mimic breathing but they're not taking in air, only amniotic fluid. They also start to have hiccups. Hiccups are an essential reflex used to train their diaphragms, the muscles they need for breathing when they are born.

Week 14:

We started week 14 on Friday, January 27^th. This week really was the most uneventful week so far. I haven’t grown, I haven’t felt movement, I don’t throw up anymore or have any nausea, even the tiredness has gone down a bit.

I had my follow up appointment on the 31^st, and my blood pressure FINALLY was low and stable!!!! The meds are doing exactly what they are supposed to and I am hoping it stays that way!!!!!

She did a few ultrasound shots and here are the pictures:

Here is some info on week 14:

By week 14 of your twin pregnancy your babies' necks are getting longer and their ears are on the side of their heads. Your babies are between 3.2 - 4.1 inches long and their bones are getting stronger. For twin baby boys the prostate glands are developing and for twin baby girls ovaries are moving to the pelvis. You are most likely showing by this time as well.

On to week 15!!!!!! Let’s keep this good feeling going!!!!!!!

Week 13:

We started week 13 on Friday, January 20^th. I have finally gotten to a point where I am no longer throwing up. The nausea I was dealing with has gone down from once or twice a day, to just a couple of times a week. The only symptom of pregnancy at this point that I am feeling is that I am really tired. No matter how much sleep I get, it seems as though it isn’t enough. 

My life before pregnancy has gone almost completely away. I used to be a very strict night owl. I would stay up anywhere from 11pm to 1am. I was always up on my computer, staying in touch with everyone, keeping up to date on social media and participating in items that are close to my heart. But since becoming pregnant, I am very much the opposite. I am ready for bed by 9, I can’t stomach sitting up at my computer desk anymore. I sit at the desk all day at work, and by the time I come home, I really want to just stretch out and lay flat on my bed or on the couch. I feel as though I abandoned my social life online, but thankfully, everyone understands. I just would rather lay in bed than sit up at my computer desk.

On Tuesday the 24^th, I drove up to Sioux City for my doctor appointments. My first appointment was with the Maternal Fetal Specialist. This is only my second visit with him, and I have fallen in love. He is such an amazing doctor, very smart and is just so much fun to work with. He loves the idea of it being a surrogacy and is very excited to meet E and R. The point of this visit is doing the Nuchal Transluchancy Testing. This tests the babies to see if they are having issues forming or possibly starting to get Down’s Syndrome. 

Information about the NT test:

What is the nuchal translucency screening test?

This prenatal test (also called the NT or nuchal fold scan) can help your healthcare practitioner assess your baby's risk of having Down syndrome (DS) and some other chromosomal abnormalities as well as major congenital heart problems.

The NT test uses ultrasound to measure the clear (translucent) space in the tissue at the back of your developing baby's neck. Babies with abnormalities tend to accumulate more fluid at the back of their neck during the first trimester, causing this clear space to be larger than average.

The NT scan must be done when you're between 11 and 14 weeks pregnant. (The last day you can have it done is the day you turn 13 weeks and 6 days pregnant.) It's usually offered along with a blood test in what's known as first-trimester combined screening.

Like other screening tests, an NT scan won't give you a diagnosis. But it can assess your baby's risk for certain problems and help you decide whether you want to have chorionic villus sampling (CVS) or amniocentesis to find out whether your baby is actually affected.

The NT scan has been performed in the United States since 1995, mostly at large medical centers. Ultrasound technicians (sonographers) and doctors need special training and high-resolution ultrasound equipment to perform it correctly. They must be certified by the Fetal Medicine Foundation in London, the organization that sets the international standards and provides the software that enables a doctor to evaluate your baby's risk.

Luckily, everything came back looking perfect and there wasn’t a single factor that led the doctor to think there would be problems. We did schedule the next screening tests for in February that go with this ultrasound to make sure the babies continue to grow as they should.

We ended up having a blast in the ultrasound room, and spent 45 minutes to an hour looking at the babies and taking a ton of pictures. Here are pictures from that scan:

After that appointment, I went downstairs to my OB. The appointment went very quickly. It was just a basic appointment where they check your weight, make you pee in the cup, check your blood pressure and then talk to the doctor to make sure everything is going okay. My blood pressure still was a bit off, so she changed my meds again and wanted me to come back in a week to see if they worked the way they were supposed to. After my appointment, I headed home and pretty much went straight to bed!! It is amazing how tired I really am with this pregnancy. I have NEVER dealt with that symptom so much in my other three pregnancies. It has been a change for sure!!! I still have not felt any real movement. I second guess if I do or not, but I am pretty sure that I haven’t felt anything at all. I am bummed that I still have no belly. I am still wearing almost all of my regular clothing and nothing is really tight yet. But, the babies are both still really small, so I am sure in due time, I will pop out and be huge!! I am super excited that everything seems to be finally going in a very positive direction. The only thing that needs to be controlled is the blood pressure. But hopefully with the new medication, we will get that back on track!!!

On to week 14!!!

Week 12:

We started week 12 on Friday, January 13^th. I finally have not had to have my head stuck in a toilet for days now. I still have some rounds of nausea that I deal with, but nothing like I was before. I finally am able to eat full meals and enjoy the food that I do eat. I am still not showing, and I am curious as to when it will happen. So many people expect belly shots, but I just don’t have anything showing. It is the weirdest thing too, because I just keep expecting to wake up and BAM having this belly be there.

But, having a bigger frame and extra “padding” in front from previous pregnancies, I think I have MUCH more room than normal woman for the babies to grow, therefore, they aren’t showing like they would on other women. I haven’t been able to feel anything as of yet either. A couple of times I thought maybe, but then it always ended up just being my insides doing their normal thing.

This week has been VERY uneventful. It is amazing how well I finally feel, and I am getting to the point of really starting to enjoy being pregnant!!!

And another huge milestone this week---week 12 is the official 3^rd month!!! 

Here is some info on week 12:

By 12 weeks your twins will have grown to 3 inches/ 7.5 centimetres long each and will be fully formed.

Their faces are beginning to look more human. Their eyes, which started out on the sides of the head, have moved closer together. Their ears are almost in their normal position on the side of the head. Their livers are making bile and the kidneys are producing urine which ends up in the amniotic fluid via their bladders. Fetal urine makes most of the amniotic fluid during the second half of pregnancy. Amniotic fluid is essential for the development of your twins' internal organs and limbs.

Your twins will squirm if your abdomen is prodded, although you cannot yet feel movement. Fetal nerve cells have been multiplying rapidly and synapses (neurological connections in the brain) are forming. Your twins will gradually acquire more reflexes: touching the palms makes the fingers close, touching the soles of the feet makes the toes curl down and touching the eyelids makes the eye muscles clench.

Week 11

Week 11

Friday, January 6^th, was the official start to week 11. I was released from the hospital at 8:30am after dealing with strep and dangerously high blood pressure levels the night before. Sadly, I went home and straight to bed, missing out on my husband’s birthday. I slept the day away and finally after hours of uninterrupted sleep, I felt like I was gaining some ground. I didn’t throw up the entire day and finally was able to eat normal food.

We took Damon wrestling on Sunday the 8^th, and I felt miserable the entire morning. I think my system was so beaten down, that it just needed rest. So back home I went and spent the remainder of the weekend in bed.

On Tuesday, January 10^th, I had a check up with my OB to make sure first of all that the strep was gone. And secondly, to make sure the babies were okay. After all of the stress that happened in the hospital, we had to make sure they were still going strong.

The appointment went well, other than still battling with the higher blood pressure. We tried some different medications and were told to come back in 2 weeks to recheck everything again. We also scheduled my next meeting with the Maternal Fetal Specialist.

On to week 12---in a positive direction this time!!!!!!!!!!!