One thing I keep saying is that I feel so much more pregnant than I am… but then again, I am so much more pregnant than I am. I knew being pregnant with twins meant my belly would get bigger, faster, but I definitely hadn’t expected it to be this ridiculous. At 21 weeks I am now the same size I was at 31 weeks with Luna. I’ve been reading that twin pregnancies tend to measure 6-7 weeks ahead, but 10? 10?! That seems a little extreme. I’m starting to get really worried about how big I’ll be in the end. It’s not like my stomach is my favourite feature by any means, I only actually wear bikinis when I’m pregnant, and most of my normal wardrobe involves tight pants and flowy tops to disguise my belly. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about getting insane stretch marks or having a bunch of excess skin left behind after I lose the baby weight.
It does make sense though. Luna was 21.5 inches at birth, and the twins are measuring around 10 inches each… so as far as length goes I’ve got the equivalent of a full size baby in there. Here’s where I’d insert the wide eyed emoji if that were an option. They could each still double in length!! My own torso is normally only 10 inches tall, so I guess it’s no wonder my belly feels like it’s exploding. A parent at the gymnastics club today said, “You don’t have long to go now!” not knowing I’m having twins, so I feel like that will be a common comment I start getting now. I can’t imagine the things I’ll hear when I’m actually getting close to term!
I’m feeling a ton more movement this time around than I did with Luna, which I love. These babies both have an anterior placenta (across the front of my uterus, instead of at the top or along the back which is more common) like Lu did, so I was worried I wouldn’t feel them much but at this point in my pregnancy with her I was still only feeling her move occasionally and certainly not big kicks. These babies on the other hand seem to be having a nightly dance party; I can even see some of their kicks from the outside now. Apparently from around the 14 week mark, 50% of their activity will be in relation to each other, whether that’s them getting kicked by their womb mate and rolling over to get away, or actual interaction I don’t know. At my 16 week ultrasound I got to see Baby A repeatedly kick Baby B in the head though, which was kind of hilarious.
I’m finally getting my appetite back which is a relief. For a couple of months I haven’t really had any feelings of hunger, just a pain in my stomach signalling the start of heartburn and reminding me to eat. The past week or two though I’ve had cravings for sushi, grilled cheese sandwiches, candy cane ice cream, and I’ve actually had to slow myself down in the snack department couple of nights. I’m up 13lbs, which is apparently on the low side of things for twins at this point. I gained way too much weight in my last month with Luna and it was really hard to lose, so I’m making a serious effort to get the extra calories I need from healthier foods this time (although now that my local Arby’s and Taco Bell have both closed, that should be a bit easier). I was originally worried about gaining the 8lbs recommended during week 20-28 (that magic number has a correlation to a lower chance of pre-term birth, 30% lower!) but now I don’t think that’ll be a problem, lol.
From Three to Five 