Head Up. Heart Strong. Awareness. Hope.

It’s getting down to the wire!

How far along? 36 weeks

Size of Babies: The size of watermelons!

Total weight gain/loss: Not sure atm. I see my OB tomorrow. At this point I’m losing my appetite a bit, so I’m not really worried about my weight.

Symptoms: Lots of swelling in my feet and legs… flip flops are my friends! Not sleeping much. Acid reflux. 🙁 Lots of Braxton Hicks contractions, and one measly real contraction.

Maternity clothes? What would I do without stretchy maternity pants? Though those are also starting to feel super tight across my belly.

Stretch marks? Yep, they’re starting to multiply!

Best moment this week: Seeing our boys on the ultrasound.

Miss Anything? Sleep. Being comfortable. Wine. <<<STILL.

Movement: Still lots of movement, though I can tell it has slowed down a bit. I guess they are feeling a little cramped.

Food cravings: Ice water, milk, juice, ICED TEA (yum!) <<<<Still all the liquids.

Anything making you queasy or sick: Mexican food and meat. Yes, still. This has not changed.

Have you started to show yet: Yepper.

Labor Signs: One measly contraction. Otherwise nada.

Belly Button in or out? Still there! I may keep it yet!

Wedding rings on or off? Off. 🙁 I’m carrying extra fluid just about everywhere now.

Happy or Moody most of the time: I’d say it’s about 50/50 now.

Looking forward to: Having these babies!

I’ll be honest, I am exhausted right now. It’s been the story of my life this week! I haven’t been sleeping much at night. I am pretty uncomfortable most of the time… but these boys are still chillin’ out in my belly, so I will quit complaining right now!

Tomorrow, April 14th, I will be 37 weeks pregnant, which is considered full term for twins. I never would have dreamed we would have progressed all the way to 37 weeks complication free! I talked with my OB this past week and told her I just felt so lucky that a Lupus pregnancy, with twins no less, had gone so well so far. I feel blessed… no matter how much I might complain. A twin pregnancy ain’t no joke, but I know it will be completely worth it.

There has been times where I have felt very betrayed by my body in relation to Lupus. You feel like you have no control over what happens, and stuff does go wrong sometimes. In the past, there have been times where I doubted whether I would be able to carry one child to term… let alone twins! We’ve come so far!

Alright, enough rambling!

What happened this week?

We had our regular appointments with my OB and the perinatologist.

The poor little guys had to get buzzed in their non-stress test again. They were just sleepy! They passed pretty quickly once they woke up though.

We went in for our ultrasound afterwards. No pictures this time. But they were measured. Baby A measured at 5 lbs 7 oz and Baby B is our little guy at 4 lbs 10 oz. They are still within 15% of each other, so the perinatologist isn’t concerned about the size disparities… though their mama was at first. Otherwise everything looked great. Great amount of fluid, good movement. They look like they have cute little faces. 🙂 Hopefully they are gaining about an ounce a day now, and they will be healthy weights by the time they come.

I saw my OB that afternoon and she helped to put my fears at ease. We discussed that the measurements could be off as far as 1 lb, and the farther along you get in your pregnancy, the less the measurements are straight on point. She really helped me to not stress so much. 🙂 I was not dilated at all at that point (though my cervix has softened), and Baby A’s head was right there.

We scheduled our induction!! April 21st. D-Day. If I have not dilated at all by then, they will have me come in the night before to prep me and then start me on Pitocin in the morning. Oh boy!!!

We have picked out names! Our families know them now… but I think I am going to keep them a secret here a little longer. 🙂

If anything happens before my next update, I may not be able to update here, but be sure to like Defying Lupus on Facebook or Defying Lupus on Twitter as it is easier to post there!

-Erin

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