My Twin Baby Bump

I am 30 weeks pregnant... but my baby bump measures at 37 weeks!

Since I have nothing to compare this pregnancy to- I've been thinking a lot about how different this pregnancy is than future pregnancies will be!

Here are few things I have noticed so far:

I haven't been able to see my feet for weeks.
I don't know when it is normal to stop seeing your feet... but keep in mind I stopped being able to see them around 23 weeks!

I mean... I guess I can see them if I bend over far enough c:

My feet/ankles are swollen all. the. time.
When AJ and I flew to Japan, my feet swelled up like balloons! It was painful and I could barely put my shoes on!
This has become my norm. Every day I cycle through putting my sandals on in the morning, hoping and praying that they will still fit! When I take off my shoes later, I have the braided rope pattern imprinted on my poor little (or I guess not so little) feet.
AJ has been lovingly rubbing my feet for weeks and weeks helping the swelling to go down. Now-a-days compression socks hardly do the trick! The best way I've found is to keep my feet elevated (especially while I sleep).

I am always hungry.
The other week AJ and I were at Noodles & Co. with AJs mom. I ordered Pad Thai with pork and it was deeeeelicious!
After scarfing down the dinner, we chatted for about 30 minutes and decided it was time to get going. We were going to run an errand or two before we got home. I felt embarrassed (but got over it quickly because of how hungry I knew I would be soon) and I mentioned that I was going to be hungry again before we finished our errands. I ordered a second Pad Thai- this time with shrimp! I took it to go and about 45 minutes later I scarfed it down, too!

Sleeping is uncomfortable.... and it has been for a while.
I was on Facebook about a month ago and saw that my friend had posted a picture of her adorable baby bump at 31 weeks. She had to hold her shirt down in order for the bump to be really accented. The caption read something like, "31 weeks! Sleeping is starting to become a pain- I can never find a comfy position!"
I chuckled.
I was 26 weeks and I had already been dealing with the big bump discomfort for weeks!! Sleeping soundly is a thing of the past- replaced with bathroom breaks and waking up with a sore back/neck. I guess I am being prepared for when these boys come and keep me up at night c:

Every week more clothes don't fit.
When my friend Erika was pregnant, she didn't start wearing maternity clothes for a while. Towards the end of her pregnancy she wore the maternity clothes- so I was thinking the same thing would happen to me.
Around 12-13 weeks in, I no longer fit into my pants. My mom and I had gone shopping for maternity pants around 10 weeks (when I first told her I was pregnant). I was SURE that the clothes would sit on my shelf for months before I had to start wearing them. lies.
I remember the first time I wore maternity pants- they felt amazing! I couldn't believe I had kept squeezing into my pre-pregnancy pants because the stretchy ones felt soooo good. I could breathe and move and dance if I wanted to!
I also remember waiting to wear some maternity clothes for so long that once I did put them on they didn't even fit! we had a good laugh at that one. One of my favorite maternity skirts I never got to wear. It makes me look forward to wearing it during my next pregnancy though c:
I boxed away my non-maternity clothes one at a time as they stopped fitting. First the pants and skirts, then the shirts, then the dresses (length is an issue- even if the dress is super flowy... it no longer goes to my knees!!). Now I am having to do the same process with my maternity clothes. Each week I pack one or two more things (pants a few weeks ago and shirts mostly these days) that no longer fit or cover up my bump. I am only 30 weeks along and my wardrobe is becoming scarce!

I already do the preggo-waddle.
A guy in the office next door to me said, "You're walking pretty gingerly these days." That was at 24 weeks and its only gotten worse.

Occasionally I don't fit places/do normal things.
On Sunday I tried to go into a bathroom stall at church that was too small-- I couldn't get in and close the door around my pregnant belly! I had to use another stall!
Two weeks ago, AJ and I got into the car. I reached my arm to close the door and couldn't reach! I was stuck in my chair and couldn't get enough momentum to propel me close enough to the door to close it either. AJ had to come around and close it for me!
I can no longer bend over in the car to "pop the trunk" open. AJ has to come around to the window and do it.
There is a bed at my mom and dad's house that I have deemed the dippy bed. This bed has a dip in the middle of the mattress and if you lay on the edge of the bed you sort of roll into the dip. Anyways- I can no longer sleep on the dippy bed because once I get into the dippy bed I cannot get out. I roll into the middle (stopped by my belly) and due to the angle cannot roll back over to get out. This becomes an inconvenience when I have to pee in the middle of the night and have to wake AJ up to help me out of bed. its pretty funny, actually.
I was sitting at the dinner table one day and Kaylie and Dallas were about to sit down. I moved over a chair so they could sit next to each other... but when I tried to sit down in my new chair I couldn't fit between the wall and the table! We had to scoot the table out a foot so that I could fit in that chair c:


These are the sort of things that have been my twin pregnancy normal for weeks, but probably won't happen until towards the end of my singleton pregnancies. Since I have never been pregnant before- I don't have any real life experiences to gauge the differences.
In some ways this makes the inconveniences easier because I don't know any better. c:

And despite being uncomfortable... I wouldn't change a thing.

THIS IS NOT A HORROR STORY OF A WOMAN WHO WENT ON BED REST @ 22 WEEKS

THIS IS NOT A HORROR STORY OF A WOMAN WHO WENT ON BED REST @22 WEEKS. This is the story of what I've learned that has changed my entire perspective on this 'mom of multiples' thing. 

Here goes:

(( I'm feeling a little frustrated because I wrote like half of what I wanted to say- and then it got deleted.

But still it important so I will write it again. ))

So after writing about my meltdown- AJ and I thought for a few more days about what our living situation plan of action needed to be. AJ was very adamant about doing all we can to save up money for these boys-  once these babies come, who the heck knows how much they will actually cost! 

So we basically nixed finding our own place for now and decided to do a combination of moving to our friends basement for a while and then living up in Logan for a few months after these boys are born. Here is how it all should go down.

Step One: get all of our non-baby stuff into a storage unit... and move all baby stuff to my parents house. 

Step Two: move our bed and clothes to our friends basement-- we can stay there in Provo until the boys come (so that AJ doesn't have to commute to work and so I can keep working my jobs for as long as possible).

Step Three: once these babies decide it's time to say hello to the world... And once they are released from the hospital... We will move up to my parents house in Logan and live there for a couple months until we have a grip enough on things. 

Step Four: find an apartment in Provo and move into our own place! 

Yes- we know this means that we will be living out of suitcases for a few months.

Yes- we know that this means we will not have a place to call our own for a while. 

Yes- we know that our babies could come anywhere from August --> end of September and so the duration of this situation is totally and completely unknown!

and Yes- we know that people will call us crazy.

BUT: priority número uno is saving up money so that we can effectively take care of these boys! So in the end it is worth all the hassle. 

Here is the big clincher to our plan--

We need to be out of our apartment on June 30th so that we don't have to pay July rent. 

That doesn't seem like a problem- you've still got a while to get it all done! 

Haha- no we don't! 

We made the decision to go with this plan on Thursday, June 19th. 

On Monday, June 22nd AJ left for a work trip. 

On Wednesday, June 24th I had planned to come to my parents house for a fun family weekend!!! 

We both arrive back in Provo on Sunday, June 29th. 

That left us with Thursday night--> Sunday to get everything moved into the storage unit. And just a few sporadic days for me to get final cleaning and packing done. 

Ah! Ah! Ah! Did you forget that I'm also pregnant with twins and am not supposed to do any moving on my own? 

Well I did. 

Thursday night I started packing up clothes. I stayed up way too late and was trying to take it easy... But I failed.

Friday I worked all day and at night AJ and I packed up some more. I was so exhausted we had to call it quits early because I'm pretty sure my legs stopped working entirely. C:

Saturday our beloved friend Melissa (remember she threw us our gender reveal party) came to help me get everything packed up and the guys from Novi (AJs company) came and we got most everything to the storage unit! Later in the afternoon, our friends Janae and Todd came to help us with some more packing and moving. By this time I was completely and utterly useless. I felt horrible- but I couldn't even stand up without holding onto a wall. I had been up on my feet all day and running around stressing out about getting it all done- I did NOT effectively take care of myself.

Sunday we had early morning church and I got some visiting teaching done... and then we had dinner at my Aunts house. It was so yummy!! I ate all the leftover salmon.

Monday I put myself on a modified bed rest because I could tell that my body was being pushed to the limits and I cannot afford to go into labor at 22 weeks. And by modified bed rest...I mean that I still ran some errands and I still packed a lot when some wonderful friends (the Lithgoes and Woodwards) from our ward came for FHE to help me clean since AJ was gone. Another great friend Stephanie came by for a few hours and taked with me because I needed some TLC. 

I guess I just didn't know how to really take it easy. I kept telling myself that if I didn't slow down then something would go wrong... But then I would think of all the things that needed to be done and I got back out of bed and did some more work. MISTAKE.

Because now I am on DOCTOR ORDERED bed rest. 

Apparently when a prego lady with twins does something like decide to pack and move her entire life in one weekend- it stresses her body out so much that there are repercussions. 

I noticed the tiny amount of bleeding on Monday- but had previously been told that a little spotting is normal. So I tried not to freak out.

I went to work on Tuesday morning and was horrified when I started bleeding a lot. A lot a lot. Like "I'm freaking out right now and need to see my doctor immediately" kind of a lot. I got the first appointment of the day (THANK GOODNESS).

My doctor started the appointment by first calming my fears and letting me see both babies on ultrasound. "They are still healthy and their hearts are working great," he said. Bless his heart. Then we went on a journey to find out what was causing the bleeding. Apparently I have a pretty common genetic condition called cervix ectropion. It means that the sensitive tissue of the cervix is exposed- instead of being tucked away like it is supposed to be. Under stressful conditions, that sensitive tissue bleeds. He said that the condition isn't typically anything to worry about- unless you try to move your entire life in one weekend.

He also said that because the twins are only 22 weeks along- if I were to do anything else to cause stress to my body and the babies were born now- they wouldn't survive. He said, however, that in a couple of weeks they could survive. Which is why he put me on a pretty strict bed rest for the next 2 weeks. Then at my next appointment he can reassess and figure out if I need to continue on bed rest or if I have learned my lesson and won't do anything crazy to push my body to its limits again. "Our goal is to keep these babies inside of you for as long as possible," he said, "don't push it!" 

Now... Let's return to the fact that my whole life is packed away in a storage unit AND my husband is out of town. My timing has always been impeccable. So immediately after the appointment I drove up to my parents house (a day earlier than planned) and have been on bed rest here. I've been so blessed to have the support that I need. They are taking care of me SO WELL. There is a ton of yummy food to eat, a comfortable bed to rest in, and people to talk to. Also- no stairs! 

My momma gave my nearly 3 year old niece, Clara, charge over me. Every time she sees me standing up it is her job to say, "Grace- you need to sit down or lay down." Effectively putting me in my place! 

It has all been worth it. My body is no longer stressed out, and I feel healthy and happy again! It is amazing to me that soon after finding out about the twins I read one lady's story about how she was put on bed rest @ 22 weeks. The thought terrified me! I convinced myself that bed rest so early would be THE WORST THING IN THE WORLD. boy was I wrong. 

The worst thing in the world is fearing that you have lost your babies. The worst thing in the world would be my boys being born too early to survive. The worst thing in the world is something a lot of women have experienced- and I am so much more sympathetic and understanding.

I remember driving to my parents house on Tuesday and praying to God that I will do anything to keep these boys alive and incubating for as long as possible. If it means bed rest for the next couple of months... Bring it on. Healthy, chubby babies are worth it. 

Moms (and especially moms of multiples)... DON'T OVER EXERT YOURSELF. Listen to your doctor and listen to your body. If you feel tired, rest. If you crave protein, eat it... Shamelessly! If you notice anything abnormal contact your doctor right away and do as you are told. Your babies are worth it.