21 Weeks: It's all good!

This past week has been really difficult, navigating and balancing all the parts of what my life is right now.  I don't want this to be a complaining post, so I won't dwell on it much, but I do want to say thank you to all of you who have shown your love in practical ways.  It's a constant reminder to myself that "this too shall pass" and I know that I will continue to be given the strength needed at the time needed.

I did a google search on twin vs. singleton pregnancies, mostly to just see if I was feeling normal twin feelings and to remember that I am not alone in this crazy journey called twin pregnancy.  Some of my favorite quotes/paraphrases are below:

"Think of all the aches and pains of your singleton pregnancy...then double it."
"When I realized I felt like 39 weeks at 20, I was so discouraged thinking it would just get worse. It didn't, it just plateaued and I felt like 39 weeks the rest of the time."
"Four little legs and four little arms. It feels like popcorn!"

I've been eagerly waiting for our 20 week ultrasound and this morning Aaron and I went for the level 2 ultrasound. Wow-- after laying still for 1 1/2 hours, and looking at every single tiny measurement, we got the clear that our babies look great.  Yay! It's so great to have confirmation that things are going as planned and the babies are growing as they should.  The babies are laying vertically now, instead of one on top of the other.  This is due to less space.  So, Baby A was head down, feet up and Baby B was head up, feet down when we started. They were wiggling so much that by the time we were done, they were opposite that.  It was fun to see.  Still keeping those genders a surprise though! I thought about trying to see if I could figure it out, but those pictures are so blurry and zooming in and zooming out, I'm sure whatever I would have thought I saw or didn't see would have been nothing anyway.  I'll just learn to be as laid back as Aaron and revel in the surprise!

I go back for another ultrasound at 24 weeks with the specialist because one of the babies wouldn't turn enough for them to get all of the spine pictures they needed. I'm guessing that will be a quick visit to just get the last few pictures. After that, I can have the rest of my ultrasounds at the OB office.

They check my cervix too to make sure the added pressure isn't causing the cervix to open, which would be cause for me to go on bed rest.  This was fine too and I'm not going on bed rest.  The selfish part of me would love to take something off my plate, even if meant boredom in my bed!  But, that would mean my pregnancy was a higher risk and I'd really like the babes to keep growing in-womb for as long as possible.

Finally, I added to my sleeping routine a huge pregnancy pillow. It's the Leachco pillow and I've only used it one night, in addition to my memory foam mattress. Besides the fact that I have this humongous pillow and am up above Aaron, probably pushing him off the bed with my contraptions, I slept so much better!  This pillow was a surprise on my doorstep from my sister last night.  Thank you!  I told Aaron he's going to have to get his own bed because I'm going to be taking up the whole thing pretty soon... but hey, I'm sleeping and that is a miracle in itself.