Bloody noses, more congestion, smell/food aversions, acid reflex, lower back pain, breast swelling/tenderness, round ligament pain, restless sleep and my ever expanding stomach - these are just a few of the daily signs that remind me I am in fact pregnant.
The general sense of exhaustion and constant subtle, yet nagging nausea is gone. I have much more energy despite the fact that I am sleeping significantly less than I was in the first trimester. I'm not sleeping well because I am a back sleeper and you aren't supposed to sleep on your back in the second and third trimester. I simply can't get comfortable on my side. I have a body pillow to hug and put between my knees. That's supposed to help with your spine alignment or something but my hips still hurt and my spine does not feel straight. After much deliberation and at least an hour at the sleep number store in Kenwood we bought a sleep number bed. (Merry Christmas to us!) I have friends who have had a lot of success with sleeping better (pregnant and not) with a memory foam mattress. I'm hoping I'll be able to get more comfortable on my side with this new bed. It comes next week!
A few other symptoms I hadn't heard of are round ligament pain and ongoing food aversions.
Round Ligament Pain
In week 14 I had 12 hours of round ligament pain. I didn't know what it was and it scared me. If you haven't experienced it yourself, it's basically shooting pains from your groin to your core that cause you to freeze, almost as if in that moment you are paralyzed by pain. The shooting pain can last just seconds or become a dull pain that hangs around for awhile. That morning I had subbed in RiverKids at church. There was a lot of up-down-up-down with small and large group time and some dancing and jumping around during the worship set. After church I spent several hours cleaning and cooking before community group. I hadn't sat down from the moment I woke up until people arrived at 6. The pains started around 7, just as we started our group discussion on that morning's sermon. At first they were short sharp stabbing pains that lasted for only a second or two causing me to hold my breath until they passed. They came every couple of minutes. Once everyone had left Alex cleaned up the kitchen so I could lay down. I focused on my breathing and counted the minutes between pains. By 8:30 the pains were spaced out by about 6 minutes. My 9:00 they were spaced out by 20 minutes with a dull pain on the lower left side of my abdomen.
I did what any freaked out pregnant lady would do - I googled "groin pain during pregnancy" and found several articles about round ligament pain. Turns out it's very common during the second trimester as the ligaments and muscles around your abdomen are moving around to make space for a baby (or babies in my case). My panic dissipated and I was able to sleep. I talked to a co-worker and my sister the next morning and they confirmed that what I was feeling was round ligament pain. They both advised me to call my doctor if the pains persisted or I had any bleeding or swelling. I only had two small stabs of pain that morning so I decided not to call my doctor. Since then I've had random stabs of pain when I stand or sit or change positions or if I am more active than normal.
At my next doctor's appointment my doctor asked if I had experienced any round ligament pain yet. I told him I had and he told me to take it easy. Pregnancy symptoms can be prolonged or worse for moms of multiples because there is more going on in there to make room for two babies. He said if the pain strikes again for a prolonged time frame to walk it off. Being too active can jump start the pain but being moderately active can combat it. He also told me to stop googling my symptoms and call him instead. Smart man.
Food Aversions
I wrongly assumed that the food and smell aversions would disappear once I entered the second trimester. I envisioned it like a light switch. Once the first trimester was over I'd just flip the switch and the angels would sing and all my food issues would disappear and I could enjoy steak again! Not so much. The nausea clung on for the first few weeks of the second trimester. Now I only get nauseous if I go more than 6 hours without eating or I try to eat something even though I know it sounds and smells terrible. Alex made a ginger soy sauce on stir fry over rice. It didn't smell good. I had a few bites. It didn't taste good. I had to walk away and was nauseous the rest of the night.
Food aversions are still a funny thing because a lot of the time nothing sounds good. Smells are also tricky because something that smelled good yesterday might smell awful today. I still can't eat chicken breast or steak unless it is shredded and covered in cheese or sauce. We had chicken enchiladas last week and philly cheese steak this week. Both were delicious and I did a happy dance at the fact I was eating meat. I guess not being able to eat it in whole form is still a texture thing? Some day in the near future I'm going to be able to go to Longhorn and order a steak and actually eat it and it will be a deliciously victorious moment.
I've eaten butter noodles probably 5 times in the last 8 days. I just cook egg noodles and put some butter, parmesan, rosemary and salt on them. Easy. Delicious. Not exactly high in protein, but last night I added some cooked bacon to my bowl and it was like a poor man's carbonara. When you find something that works you eat it a lot.
I'm not saying any of this to complain. I'm more so saying it to explain symptoms I feel aren't talked about enough and to remember years from now how I felt because no one really talks about what pregnancy is really like. And although it is such a wonderful, beautiful thing, it ain't always pretty.
Lots of people ask me how I'm doing and what I want to say is "I'm making humans, I'm freaking amazing!" What I usually say is, "feeling good!" because I don't want to come on too strong or get someone stuck in an unwanted twenty minute conversation about how I used to eat a lot of tomato based foods but now I get acid reflex if I eat too much tomato sauce so I'm sticking to bland lunches for now.
All of these 'symptoms' are just a part of pregnancy and as silly as it sounds, I am so grateful for them. In the first trimester my doctor said that the sicker I felt the better he felt because it meant my body was producing the hormones needed to sustain two growing babies. Now when I have any discomfort I remind myself that my body is still doing everything it needs to to make room for and sustain two tiny humans. I can deal with these mild discomforts if it means I get to hold these precious gifts in a few short months.
At my last appointment my doctor announced that I am measuring a month ahead of a singleton mom which is exactly where I should be with twins. I don't want to know what that means for the later months! My anatomy scan is next Friday. It's an hour long ultrasound with 30 minutes dedicated to each baby to measure all the things and check all the organs and such. I'm looking forward to seeing them again. By 21 weeks they should weigh 12 ounces each and be at least 10 inches long, the size of a large carrot! That's more than double the weight they were at my 16.5 week ultrasound! So crazy!
Last Sunday marked 19 weeks, half way! (Docs don't let twins go past 38 weeks). For now we are praying I can make it to 38 weeks, the week of April 14th, and have a scheduled c-section at Liberty Center. If these babies have other plans and I go into labor before then I'll most likely be at Christ on Auburn Ave. Liberty Center is brand sparkly new, but they don't have a NICU. Would you pray with me? Pray for the rest of my pregnancy. Pray for rest. Pray for peace when I can't feel them and wonder if something is wrong. And when you pray, be sure to start your prayers with thanks.
The general sense of exhaustion and constant subtle, yet nagging nausea is gone. I have much more energy despite the fact that I am sleeping significantly less than I was in the first trimester. I'm not sleeping well because I am a back sleeper and you aren't supposed to sleep on your back in the second and third trimester. I simply can't get comfortable on my side. I have a body pillow to hug and put between my knees. That's supposed to help with your spine alignment or something but my hips still hurt and my spine does not feel straight. After much deliberation and at least an hour at the sleep number store in Kenwood we bought a sleep number bed. (Merry Christmas to us!) I have friends who have had a lot of success with sleeping better (pregnant and not) with a memory foam mattress. I'm hoping I'll be able to get more comfortable on my side with this new bed. It comes next week!
A few other symptoms I hadn't heard of are round ligament pain and ongoing food aversions.
Round Ligament Pain
In week 14 I had 12 hours of round ligament pain. I didn't know what it was and it scared me. If you haven't experienced it yourself, it's basically shooting pains from your groin to your core that cause you to freeze, almost as if in that moment you are paralyzed by pain. The shooting pain can last just seconds or become a dull pain that hangs around for awhile. That morning I had subbed in RiverKids at church. There was a lot of up-down-up-down with small and large group time and some dancing and jumping around during the worship set. After church I spent several hours cleaning and cooking before community group. I hadn't sat down from the moment I woke up until people arrived at 6. The pains started around 7, just as we started our group discussion on that morning's sermon. At first they were short sharp stabbing pains that lasted for only a second or two causing me to hold my breath until they passed. They came every couple of minutes. Once everyone had left Alex cleaned up the kitchen so I could lay down. I focused on my breathing and counted the minutes between pains. By 8:30 the pains were spaced out by about 6 minutes. My 9:00 they were spaced out by 20 minutes with a dull pain on the lower left side of my abdomen.
I did what any freaked out pregnant lady would do - I googled "groin pain during pregnancy" and found several articles about round ligament pain. Turns out it's very common during the second trimester as the ligaments and muscles around your abdomen are moving around to make space for a baby (or babies in my case). My panic dissipated and I was able to sleep. I talked to a co-worker and my sister the next morning and they confirmed that what I was feeling was round ligament pain. They both advised me to call my doctor if the pains persisted or I had any bleeding or swelling. I only had two small stabs of pain that morning so I decided not to call my doctor. Since then I've had random stabs of pain when I stand or sit or change positions or if I am more active than normal.
At my next doctor's appointment my doctor asked if I had experienced any round ligament pain yet. I told him I had and he told me to take it easy. Pregnancy symptoms can be prolonged or worse for moms of multiples because there is more going on in there to make room for two babies. He said if the pain strikes again for a prolonged time frame to walk it off. Being too active can jump start the pain but being moderately active can combat it. He also told me to stop googling my symptoms and call him instead. Smart man.
Food Aversions
I wrongly assumed that the food and smell aversions would disappear once I entered the second trimester. I envisioned it like a light switch. Once the first trimester was over I'd just flip the switch and the angels would sing and all my food issues would disappear and I could enjoy steak again! Not so much. The nausea clung on for the first few weeks of the second trimester. Now I only get nauseous if I go more than 6 hours without eating or I try to eat something even though I know it sounds and smells terrible. Alex made a ginger soy sauce on stir fry over rice. It didn't smell good. I had a few bites. It didn't taste good. I had to walk away and was nauseous the rest of the night.
Food aversions are still a funny thing because a lot of the time nothing sounds good. Smells are also tricky because something that smelled good yesterday might smell awful today. I still can't eat chicken breast or steak unless it is shredded and covered in cheese or sauce. We had chicken enchiladas last week and philly cheese steak this week. Both were delicious and I did a happy dance at the fact I was eating meat. I guess not being able to eat it in whole form is still a texture thing? Some day in the near future I'm going to be able to go to Longhorn and order a steak and actually eat it and it will be a deliciously victorious moment.
I've eaten butter noodles probably 5 times in the last 8 days. I just cook egg noodles and put some butter, parmesan, rosemary and salt on them. Easy. Delicious. Not exactly high in protein, but last night I added some cooked bacon to my bowl and it was like a poor man's carbonara. When you find something that works you eat it a lot.
I'm not saying any of this to complain. I'm more so saying it to explain symptoms I feel aren't talked about enough and to remember years from now how I felt because no one really talks about what pregnancy is really like. And although it is such a wonderful, beautiful thing, it ain't always pretty.
Lots of people ask me how I'm doing and what I want to say is "I'm making humans, I'm freaking amazing!" What I usually say is, "feeling good!" because I don't want to come on too strong or get someone stuck in an unwanted twenty minute conversation about how I used to eat a lot of tomato based foods but now I get acid reflex if I eat too much tomato sauce so I'm sticking to bland lunches for now.
All of these 'symptoms' are just a part of pregnancy and as silly as it sounds, I am so grateful for them. In the first trimester my doctor said that the sicker I felt the better he felt because it meant my body was producing the hormones needed to sustain two growing babies. Now when I have any discomfort I remind myself that my body is still doing everything it needs to to make room for and sustain two tiny humans. I can deal with these mild discomforts if it means I get to hold these precious gifts in a few short months.
At my last appointment my doctor announced that I am measuring a month ahead of a singleton mom which is exactly where I should be with twins. I don't want to know what that means for the later months! My anatomy scan is next Friday. It's an hour long ultrasound with 30 minutes dedicated to each baby to measure all the things and check all the organs and such. I'm looking forward to seeing them again. By 21 weeks they should weigh 12 ounces each and be at least 10 inches long, the size of a large carrot! That's more than double the weight they were at my 16.5 week ultrasound! So crazy!
Last Sunday marked 19 weeks, half way! (Docs don't let twins go past 38 weeks). For now we are praying I can make it to 38 weeks, the week of April 14th, and have a scheduled c-section at Liberty Center. If these babies have other plans and I go into labor before then I'll most likely be at Christ on Auburn Ave. Liberty Center is brand sparkly new, but they don't have a NICU. Would you pray with me? Pray for the rest of my pregnancy. Pray for rest. Pray for peace when I can't feel them and wonder if something is wrong. And when you pray, be sure to start your prayers with thanks.
Comments
Post a Comment