It seems a huge part of the pregnancy experience is pain.
There are awesome bits - I love feeling my little minions roll around inside of me, and trying to guess from the location of the movement which one it was that I just felt.
Hunting for names has been a mixture of great fun and panic as I realized, about 8 weeks in, that there wasn't a single boy's name I liked that wouldn't get him beat up on the playground, and what if I had two boys, and had to come up with first and middle names for both of them??? (Fortunately I know the genders now... and will reveal that in a later post... so there's no more "what if" to it, and I'm set to be serious about name hunting.) But flipping through name websites and books and asking for people's opinions has been, more than anything, oodles of fun.
And my all time favorite part is baby shopping. Tiny shoes, baby clothes, books! I found this adorable tiger suit at DI the other day, and it was only $3, and shockingly clean for used baby clothes. And I'm putting together my registry and looking for the lowest possible prices on car seats and cribs and everything else I'm going to need in just a few more months. I've never been much of a shopper, but give me a baby to shop for, and I'm absolutely helpless.
Oh! And I know it'll be months and months, and maybe even over a year before they're able to make good use of bath toys, but I found this squishy pirate ship that launches foam balls. Put a set of twins in the bathtub with one of those, and it's a surefire recipe for squeals and giggles and a huge mess on the bathroom floor. I can't wait to see them use it! Heck, the night we got it, Carl and I were firing foam balls at each other.
All in all, the pregnancy "experience" is a total joy.
But it's also a constant state of pain.
Some part of my body has hurt - with absolutely no relief - every single moment of every single day, for the past 2 1/2 months. Sometimes the aching of my back is drowned out by the pain of a stabbing headache, and I don't notice it as much. My bladder always feels sore - either suddenly full right after emptying it, or just sore from being used as a trampoline. My lower and middle back take turns being more sore than the other, and don't even get me started on round ligament pain. I have to hold my stomach when I walk to stave off the ache, and it only sort of works. And I know it's going to only get worse.
Essentially, as much fun as the shopping and the name hunting and feeling them grow is, I'm really looking forward to the part where they're out of me, and I have my squishy babies. I've been counting down for a couple months now, using November 8 as my target date.
At my first appointment, my OB told me that they wouldn't let me go past 38 weeks, so even though November 22 was my official due date, I wouldn't be pregnant that long.
Well, this past Tuesday, I got the best countdown news I've ever had.
I went in for my 20 week ultrasound - the big one where they measure everything to make sure the babies are growing right, and check the gender if you didn't get an early gender ultrasound. As she was checking Dinky Squirt A's measurements, the ultrasound technician was giving me advice on prepping for twins.
"The nice thing about twins," she said, "Is that you can cut a whole month off your due date."
My eyes widened. "A month? My doctor said two weeks..."
"Well, that's only because that's the absolute longest they'll let you go. Most twins come on their own around 36 weeks. The uterus gets so heavy, with 12 or 14 lbs. of baby in there, that it just drops them, and you go into labor."
36 weeks.
I checked the calendar, and it came out to be October 25 (which just happens to be my littlest brother's birthday).
So, even though that's the beginning of the "when they'll probably be born" time, it's my new target date. And it's only 15 weeks and 1 day away. October 25 is only 3 1/2 months from today.
I am so much closer than I was last week, when I had 18 weeks left.
3 1/2 months until I have my squishy babies.
