Our twin pregnancy journal: Second Trimester

Month 4:

We started off my fourth month of pregnancy by picking up where we'd left off before Christmas. I was thrilled to go in for an appointment at 16 weeks and get to hear the babies' heartbeats with the Doppler! Up until then, I'd had an ultrasound at every appointment. I joked that I had graduated from being a trauma case. We made an appointment for 20 weeks, where we would have an ultrasound and we'd get to learn our babies' genders! It was around this time that my belly started growing noticeably. I had started to notice a difference in how my clothes fit around 9 weeks, but I didn't start to really show until I was around 15 weeks. By 17 weeks, I felt as though I did a good job filling out my maternity tops (little did I know!) and by 19 weeks, I was very obviously pregnant. It seemed to happen almost overnight.

Me, 19 weeks pregnant (with curly hair!)

We went on a trip around the time this picture was taken, to celebrate the end of morning sickness and the fact that I hadn't yet gotten uncomfortable enough to be unable to ride in the car for a long time. It was a nice weekend, spent partly in Portland and partly in Astoria. We got to spend time walking around, one of the last times I remember going for a walk of any significant length other than at work! I don't remember much else about this month, except that I felt much more like myself than I had for a long time. I was so energetic a few of the days that I even made an effort to try and get some exercise!
Month 5:
We had our ultrasound the week after our trip, right after I was 20 weeks. We were so nervous about getting all the things we needed to have the ultrasound recorded "right" that we were late! I apologized profusely to the sonographer, who assured us that she'd only worried because most couples are very excited and can't wait another minute to find out. People had been asking for months what we "thought" we were having, and at first I'd had a dream where there were two babies: one boy and one girl. After that, however, I didn't have any more dreams where I could tell the gender of both babies. I just had a very strong feeling that both were girls, as did Dan. When we started choosing names, I was convinced! It took us almost no time to agree on a second boy's name (we'd already picked one boy and one girl name before I found out I was pregnant) but the second girl's name took weeks. This was obviously a very important decision. So when I laid down on the table and she asked what we thought we were having, we told her girls. I added that this was only logical, since on my dad's side of the family, the oldest child seems to be a girl almost every time. My dad is the second oldest of 5 kids and the only boy. All of his sisters who had kids have a girl for their oldest. When it comes to us cousins having kids, so far it's been an even split, but the odds are still overwhelmingly in favor of girls, historically.

The sonographer appeared skeptical, and continued with the ultrasound, saying something about how that was impossible because there is no link between the mother's genealogy and the gender of a baby. Several minutes passed while she measured various parts of the babies, who complicated matters by squirming and kicking all over the place. Finally, she pronounced that we did, indeed, have two baby girls! She gave us a long strip of pictures, including adorable profile shots of both girls.

We were very excited to share the news with our families, although we kept it to ourselves for the rest of the day. We'd invited our parents to meet us at our favorite Mexican restaurant so that we could share the ultrasound results with them. Someone had suggested to me that wrapping up something with the "answer" on it was a fun way to share, and we'd decided to have one box for each of our moms to open. At the mall, after much deliberation, we finally settled on a little pink onesie and a little yellow onesie. Adding something with their names turned out to be significantly more difficult - apparently, it's not usually a spur-of-the-moment decision to personalize something for your child. Finally, we settled on the little tricycle license plates sold at the toy store. When we explained our idea to the sales clerk at Gymboree, she was happy to provide decorative gift boxes. A scrapbook kit at Target completed my purchases, and I spent the afternoon crafting the first pages for each girl.

We handed our moms the identical boxes and let them unwrap. Although the yellow onesie created momentary confusion, the license plates cleared it up. Both sets of parents were delighted with the news and the names, and we were excited to have shared it in a creative way.

After starting off so eventfully, the rest of the month passed in relative calm as I started a new position at work and spent most of my time and energy trying to do my best. We were able to shop and plan, knowing we were having two baby girls, and adorable pink outfits started filling the closet in our nursery.

First scrapbook page: Erin Maureen

First scrapbook page: Emily Grace

Month 6:
Although everyone I know who's had a baby tells me that the second trimester was the most comfortable, I don't believe this is the case for twins. Now I've only been pregnant with twins, and I have found it to be an enjoyable experience, but your belly grows so much faster with two babies that third trimester discomforts kick in a little early. In other words, if you'd like to know what to expect, you need to skip ahead a chapter or two!

When I was between 24 and 25 weeks pregnant, I started having such strong Braxton-Hicks contractions that breathing became difficult. My doctor said this was understandable and didn't concern her too much, but the fact that I was still working 10 hour days did. I started working 6-7 hour days and came home for a nap in the afternoon. This seemed to help, although the contractions continued. However, since I wasn't exhausted all the time, I began to feel better and was able to actually do things after work, like cook dinner and enjoy spending time with my husband. At this point, we set a date that I would start my maternity leave, deciding on 33 weeks since my job is almost entirely standing and walking. With this date set, shorter hours, and a more relaxed day-to-day life, we planned to head over to the coast for a family reunion right as my second trimester ended. . .

Me, 25 weeks pregnant