I’m sorry for being such an absentee blogger lately. Pregnancy is slow moving, in many ways, so it may be better than you aren’t getting the play by play! In any case, here’s a quick update on how everything has been going.

Weeks 6-14

The first trimester (which really only goes through 13, but 14 pretty much felt the same so we’ll include it in for now) proved to be as difficult as I’ve heard. I had “morning sickness” all day, every day, throwing up a few times a day. It was worst in early mornings around 3:00 AM and right after I got up and going around 9:00 AM. Weeks 11 and 14 were notably hellish because of the nausea and, unfortunately fell on Thanksgiving. But, the babies let me eat Thanksgiving dinner so, I was extra thankful for that ;). I lost a few pounds in the first 10 weeks which is very normal for the first trimester, however; it’s not all that fun.

Along with the morning sickness, I had the classic exhaustion with the worst of it hitting in weeks 7 and 14. I tried to spend every weekend sleeping and the evenings going to bed early–sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t. Luckily, I had a lot of flexibility with work, but I only missed one day of work in those first few months, which I would consider a small accomplishment (but take what you can get!).

I didn’t really have any strange cravings, but I only wanted salty foods (very unlike my chocoholic self). For a few weeks, I couldn’t even look at meat. I still can’t even look at raw chicken without gagging. For a few of those weeks, I wasn’t able to go to the grocery store because of all of the smells (that I have literally never noticed before).

Anthony graciously took even more care of me than he usually does, making sure to keep me as fed as I could stand and get me to bed quickly. These weeks were a lot of just surviving and doing what I could to eat anything that sounded half decent.

These were all my symptoms, which is the not so fun part, but the other part was seeing our little beans grow SO much! On the worst days, I tried to remember how hard my little ones were working. Within the first trimester, they’ve grown a heart, brain, and limbs. Comparatively, what I have been doing is a cake walk! We were able to see both babies moving in our final ultrasounds with our clinic.

We graduated from our fertility clinic after week 9, which was an incredible and completely surreal feeling. After spending the last 7 months there, going in several times a week, they’d become a part of our story. We are forever grateful for Conceptions Reproductive Associates!

Though week 14 was difficult physically, we announced our pregnancy to our friends and extended family on Thanksgiving! As any TTC couple knows, announcing your pregnancy is one of those things you quietly dream about. For us, I wanted to mark the occasion with a short photoshoot. When I tried on the dress I was going to wear for the shoot, it was the first time Anthony noticed my little growing bump. He just had this huge smile on his face that I’ll never forget. It was the first time I felt like I was giving him what I had prayed to for so long.

Weeks 15 – 19

I was lied to when I was told that my nausea would let up at this point. It persisted and still continues even now–however, it has become less frequent! So that is a plus. In the last two weeks, I’ve felt a lot of pain in my lower abdomen and back. Some of this is due to Braxton Hicks, and much of it is simply due to my body growing to meet the demands of these growing boys!

Week 15 is when we found out we are having two baby boys. I’m so used to girls at this point and I just feel like I know nothing about boys! But I’ve made the move from bows and princess dresses to animal adventures and blue jumpsuits :).

Week 16 was another sleepy week for me as my body was preparing to fuel the doubling in size of each of our babes. We began clearing out the guest room that has sat unfinished, waiting for tiny toes and tiny hands to fill it.

Within the last few weeks we started getting clothes and baby things. One night after we got two bouncers from a friend of mine, I just set them in the living room and stared at them–envisioning two babies, my two babies, cooing in the seats. It’s the first time in this process that it has really felt real that they are mine. Mine to keep, mine to hold, to grow and to love.

My fear about their safety has migrated more toward excitement for their arrival. Every ultrasound and test has shown both our boys growing rapidly and healthily. We thank God for giving us so much good news throughout the pregnancy.

We reached the halfway point for twins, 19 weeks as full term is 38 weeks. In some ways it feels like it’s flown by, in other ways, we feel impatient to meet our boys. They still have a lot of growing to do, though, so we want them to stay in the womb as long as possible.

Week 20

Week 20 officially begins tomorrow! I promise to be better about giving more frequent updates now that I’m doing a bit better physically.