Former Egg Donor Undergoing IVF

Total Pageviews

Monday, October 29, 2018

Twin Pregnancy: 23 weeks + 2 days

Second trimester has been slightly easier than first trimester. Now, instead of my head in a toilet vomiting everything, I am able to eat most things (still can't eat spaghetti and some chicken ingredient foods).  In fact, I get sudden hunger pangs, where I go from zero to one hundred in a second, and I need something to eat right then. Luckily, since I can tolerate more foods, I have been eating more at home, and less out to eat. Which has saved us a lot of money. Now that I am seeing prices of baby items, I'm really trying to be more fiscally responsible with finances. 

I had acid reflux in the first trimester periodically, but now I have it nearly 24 hours a day. There's no "heartburn," but more like the sensation that food is stuck in the back of my throat. It doesn't go away with Zantac 150mg twice daily either. What I did find, was that milk of magnesia helped resolve that food-stuck in my throat sensation well. Only problem is, the taste milk of magnesia makes me nauseous. It also is effective with constipation and deemed okay for use in pregnancy. As my OB put it, "drink as much as you want. It's fine." With constipation being a common symptom in pregnancy, many women resort to milk of magnesia, as Colace (I found) was ineffective). Constipation effected me more in the first trimester. So far, I find if I drink at least 80oz of water daily, constipation relatively resolves itself. OB recommends a gallon a day, but between me peeing every 20 minutes, I don't think my body could physically tolerate any more water. Sometimes, I will come out of the restroom, only to go back 30 seconds later to pee again. Husband jokes he can't take me around any more to run simple errands, because I have to pee as soon as we walk in and then 10 minutes after. In order to help with the pressure on my bladder, I find myself having to take small steps and walk slowly. I'm sure I look ridiculous, along with my pregnancy waddle. 

The most painful symptom I have had, started yesterday. I think one or both of the babies have confused my cervix for a punching bag. I nearly cried last night they were so active. My mom is concerned they may be contractions, but at this time, they're irregular anyway.

The other day, I went to Costco, around lunch time, and I hadn't eat lunch yet. I went, not hungry for lunch yet and planning to eat once I got home. During this errand, in Costco, I started breaking out into a cold sweat, feeling lightheaded, and dizzy. I've been experiencing shortness of breath for the past few weeks, but my shortness of breath was even worse during this dizzy spell. The dizzy spell lasted an hour or more. I wasn't even hungry, so I wondered why I was experiencing these symptoms.  I called my mom to let her know to stay on the phone with me, in case anything happened, and I fainted. Thank goodness for moms. When I got home, I immediately downed a protein shake, and I felt much better. Now, I always try to eat before running an errand to avoid a scary dizzy spell. 

Just last week, we were at a huge public event where thousands of people attended. I had a sudden pang of bladder pressure and urge to pee. I held it for an hour, until we could find a restroom. Holding it started to become so painful. I found port-potties to use, with a huge line. I still can't believe I resorted to this, but I approached the he cop near it, and told him I needed to use the restroom right now. He said to stand in line. Without even trying, I broke down in tears, telling him my situation. He did probably what every chivalrous male would have done and got me to the front of the line. There were a lot of angry people, but I had heard, that holding your urine too long can cause contractions, and like I stated, it already had become very painful. I am so embarrassed to even admit that I did this though. Don't judge me to badly. 

With all these typical symptoms and my ever growing rounded belly, it was becoming difficult to hide this from family. We told my in-laws during a camping trip that I was pregnant (didn't tell them I was having twins though) at almost 15 weeks. We told my family I was pregnant with twins between 15 to 16 weeks. My grandma was ecstatic, calling me "her successor." She had fraternal twin girls, but has no idea we used IVF. At 20 weeks, my husband's side of the family and us, went on another camping trip, and for my husband's birthday, we told his side of the family we were having boy girl twins. We didn't do it in any cute sort of way, which I kind of regret, but my husband was bursting to tell them. They were shocked. Some inquired about IVF, but my husband denied it, I just don't need or want anyone's judgment to weigh on my pregnancy. I already have an extra 15 pounds on my belly, and don't need anyone else's judgement to weigh me down further. 
Kudos to anyone that is open and honest about their whole process though. 

At around 21 weeks, I found decent cribs at Walmart on sale, which I nabbed immediately, even though I had promised myself I would not buy anything until closer to 24 weeks. I am glad I didn't pass up the good deal though. We still need crib mattresses. Who knew a decent crib mattress could be so expensive! I am trying to do research on them. Speaking of research, I've been trying to learn everything I can about strollers. I ordered the City Select Lux yesterday, because it was on sale from normally an $829 price tag to $639. I may return it, if I find a used on for half that price though. $639 doesn't include the cost of two infant car seats and two adapters. 

I hope to write more frequently and am sad I haven't been writing as often as I would have liked.