The Half-Way Point

At my 20 week OBGYN appointment this week, we got to see our growing little boy and little girl again (and after receiving piles of both boy and girl clothes from extremely generous friends over the last few weeks, we had a big sigh of relief as she confirmed that they are 100%-Without-A-Doubt male and female).

At 20 weeks, both babies are 12 ounces each. Both have identical heartrates (which oddly has been the pattern at nearly every appointment). Both are active, and this time they were both lying head down, and face to face, like they were having a "meeting of the minds," as she put it. Like they were already having a little conversation . . . and hopefully not scheming already.

Face to Face

Because they are fraternal, they have their own placentas and their own "sacs" - and when you see the membrane that separates them it looks like a tiny breakable string that could easily be snapped... but it's rubbery and strong, even though they kick at it (at each other), and can see each other through it. So because they are face-to-face, their legs are interlocked also. It's not hard to imagine why they say twins have such a bond from the moment they are born... they are constantly with each other from conception.

Legs interlocked - Boy on the left, Girl on the right

Both babies are bigger than average and longer than average -- even for singleton babies. She said that that is awesome, considering that by this time usually twin babies tend to start slowing down on the growth. So, they said, whatever I'm doing is working and I should keep doing it. The little boy, from head to toe, looks perfect in every way. The little girl looks just as perfect except for a "borderline dilated" kidney that they noticed in the ultrasound . . . but they are not going to panic and advised me not to worry as well. We'll check up on it again at the next appointment in 4 weeks. (The same thing happened with Adam and by the follow up he was fine - although they said that this is much more common and harmless in boys and less common to see in girls). I'd be lying if I said I wasn't concerned, but I also don't have enough facts or alarms to panic at this point.

Because Baby Girl (Twin A) is slightly lower, they expect that she will be born first. Baby Boy (Twin B) has the "comfortable" ride as he has a little bit more room. So we got many pictures of heads, legs, organs, feet, and Baby Boy's profile, but had to work hard to get a shot of Baby Girl's profile as her face was pushed right up into his (and since she is so active that it's hard to get her to sit still long enough -- reminds me of a certain 22 month old I know).

Baby Girl

Baby Boy

As for me, I'm still healthy. My hips hurt, I'm exhausted constantly, and stamina is at a frustratingly low level, but at least I'm not in the state that I was for the first 3 months of the pregnancy, when I barely felt like a human being. I'm lucky that I have a job, co-workers, and a supervisor who value my health. I'm in an environment where I'm encouraged to take care of myself. And when I come home, Shannon takes care of Adam (when we're both in the same place it is rare that I have to change any dirty diapers), helps with dinner, does most of the day-to-day cleaning, and every now and then will surprise me with a Butterfinger Blizzard. Without all of this, I don't think I'd be in the healthy state that I am in. I know that there will be a point (probably in the near future), where I'm not even this mobile or productive, but in the meantime I'm listening to my body and am able to respond as I should.

I take my prentatal vitamins, my folic acid, my iron supplements, and my calcium supplements (pretty much) every day... I'm mostly avoiding caffeine and I eat what I want but in reasonable quantities. As I get further and further along, I'm more tempted to (and justified) to get a salad AND a cup of fruit with my sandwhich (or the large nachos instead of the regular nachos), and I'm eating much more protein than I used to, mostly because I'm craving it. I also cannot get enough water. 10 glasses a day still leaves me parched.

The most promininent of my pregnancy symptoms lately are the extremely vivid dreams I'm having . . . last night's doozy involved me giving birth to two red-haired, freckled, full-grown, ultra-intelligent children who sat politely in the hospital room chairs with us, with their hands folded in their lap. They informed us they didn't like the names we'd picked out for them . . . and therefore named themselves "Jim" and "Abby."

AND, I'm growing fast. At 20 weeks (5 months) I'm measuring one full month ahead at 6 months pregnant with a single baby, from what they tell me.

16.5 weeks

19 weeks

20 weeks

However, I'm not running around like I used to. I've had to relinguish my duties of dropping off Adam at school to Shannon, because after getting myself ready, making Adam breakfast, changing his diaper and chasing him down to put on his clothes, socks, shoes, etc... then get him into the car, out of the car, into school and myself back to the car... I literally feel ill and the day hasn't really even begun. I was advised not to pick Adam up anymore if I could avoid it, but poor Adam doesn't truly understand and most of the time sitting on Mom's lap on the couch is not nearly as exciting as being held on my hip as I cook dinner. Luckily Dad is a constant loving presence in the house so someone can always pick him up if he needs it... for now. And now that the weather is nicer, he gets to spend some good quality time out in the backyard with Dad and throwing the ball for Caley.

We're starting to gather what we need and the house looks like a baby store exploded. This isn't to say that there is a ton of it (other than clothes), only that there is no place yet for what we do have so it's littering the backs of couches and bedrooms throughout the house.