I actually enjoyed being pregnant and everything that came along with it. My pregnancy was easy, complication-free and not bad at all. Here's the summary version.
My first trimester seemed to creep along. I was so anxious to get past the first 12 weeks and feel a little less scared about all the horrible things you hear and read about. It seemed even longer because when I thought I was almost there they pushed my due date back and I lost 2 weeks. The first real pregnancy-induced change I had was eating. By 6 weeks I was waking up starving in the middle of the night and having to get up to eat. Kevin has plenty of stories about waking up in the middle of the night to find me eating cereal, toast or crackers in the dark. I was hungry constantly and I could go from being full one minute to starving the next. Within a few bites of eating, I was full again. This only got worse as I expanded. I was never nauseous, never had morning sickness and had a great first trimester. The worst thing I had were a few reoccurring headaches. Not bad at all!
My best pregnancy story is when I cried at the tram video. It was our anniversary trip, so late September, and we went to the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. While walking around the tram station at the top of the mountain we found this History of the Tram video and sat in this tiny little make-shift theater to watch. It was your standard this is where the idea came from, this is how we built it and this is what it is today video. The very end of the movie is footage of visitors of all ages coming and going on the tram. I suddenly got overcome with emotions watching these families that I burst into tears and couldn't stop crying! Of course Kevin found the whole thing hilarious once he realized why I wouldn't get up and leave the theater. That's still one of our favorite pregnancy-memories.
I put on weight pretty quickly (blame it on the eating) and was well into showing by the start of my second trimester. I was exhausted by the end of the day and took up a new hobby of couch-sleeping before going to bed each night. I continued to work and spent my free time reading books, blogs and websites for ideas and advice on everything from what to register for, what to expect with twins and how to make it through my pregnancy. I loved playing music to my belly each night or reading to it and feeling all the kicks and wiggles from the girls (Goodnight Moon was Kevin's favorite bedtime story to my belly). The girls got VERY active during this time and were almost constantly wiggling, kicking or squirming. It was the best feeling in the world. My biggest worry at this point became making it to 36 weeks with little to no NICU time for the girls. This was my ultimate goal. Never did I dream I would go as long as I did.
My third trimester was here before I knew it. We finished registering, getting the nursery ready and I anticipated having to go off work at any moment. My belly grew and grew in outrageous proportions to my body. My new time-filler was figuring out which baby was the one who just kicked me or who was in what position each day. I didn't have any real cravings though I did take quite a liking to McDonald's soft serve. The girls spent nearly the whole third trimester head down. I guess there wasn't much room for either of them to turn. I was fairly confident I could have the girls naturally if they stayed head down. I paid little to no attention to the details of a c-section. We took our childbirth preparation classes at the hospital and I finalized my last day at work in mid-February. With my due date on St. Patrick's Day (March 17th) I figured I could use the extra time relaxing on my beloved couch. I spent my time resting, watching tv and movies and reading. I pretty much figured by mid-February that I would have the girls at any moment.
My last month or so of pregnancy probably hit me the hardest. It was a bit harder to get comfortable and go to sleep but since I was so exhausted I managed with my huge pillow. It was a life-saver! Even brief outings to run errands exhausted me within 15 minutes. My feet started swelling really badly within a few hours of getting up. It got to the point where I couldn't take my shoes off unless I didn't plan on putting them back on and I couldn't fit in my own socks. Come to think of it, by the end I could barely fit in anything! Kevin's clothes were getting too tight and so were my maternity clothes. That's what 35 extra pounds will do to you! I made it up until week 35-36 or so without stretch marks either. Those last 3-4 weeks were killer as the girls and my belly continued to grow. Well worth every bit of it though.
I spent plenty of time throughout the entire 9 months at the Dr. I went once a month until 30 weeks to my OB and once a month to the specialist for ultrasounds. From 28 weeks on, they added twice a week NST monitoring sessions at the specialist. Basically it was a chance for me to recline, relax and listen to the babies' heartbeats as they checked for contractions or indications of stress on the babies. I also got an ultrasound after each session. We had TONS of ultrasounds. By the last 2 months of my pregnancy I was going to one of the other Dr. at least two times a week. That alone was exhausting. Only once did I get mixed up and drive to the wrong Dr's office. Pretty good for my crazy pregnancy brain!
I'll leave my last few weeks until next time since they play into my delivery of the girls. I was pregnant for exactly 39 weeks. Here I am the night before their birth buried under that belly.
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