For MOMs by MOMs: Pregnant with twins!

Today, our topic is pregnancy and birth story!

Or you can split these up even :) As a reminder, this is a series for MOMs (moms of multiples) or ANY mom! We just thought it would be fun to share our stories and experiences :) Heather, Jennifer, Amanda and myself teamed up to start this and we hope you will join! To add a link to your post on pregnancy and/or birth story, Jennifer is hosting the linky on her blog today, which is HERE!

I know a lot of this I have already posted, but it's fun to recap some of it again. I'm at a different stage now and of course, I love thinking back on it all. I'll do some linking to other posts as well.

I became pregnant with Knox & Sloane six months after I gave birth. I had a c-section with Cohen and it was quite a lengthy recovery. In fact, at six months, you aren't really fully recovered. I wasn't, anyhow.

We found out very early that we were having twins. Within two weeks after doing IUI we knew I was carrying two babies :) Our doctor even had a feeling, based on heartbeats, it was a boy & a girl ;) He delivers lots of babies and is typically pretty accurate early on. I thought it was a boy and a girl or two girls. I never had a feeling for two boys.

Brent and I decided two keep our exciting news to ourselves for a little while. I think we lasted about a week, haha. Not for any particular reason, but we were letting it soak in. It was fun and basically we just really couldn't believe it.

My pregnancy immediately started out pretty tough. I was in pain. I felt pressure when I walked and when I was on my feet for long. My doctor assured me it was because of a few reasons; I did follicle stimulating meds; I was just pregnant; I was pregnant with two babies. So I trusted him. He was right. Things were fine. I had nervousness before each appointment, but he was always quick to say the babies looked great! Thankfully, he knew I needed to see my babies often so we went in every two-three weeks.

The pain got better for a few weeks, I think between 15-20 weeks. At 20 weeks, I started feeling pain a bit again. It wasn't awful, but I just couldn't be up for long periods of time. My doctor pretty consistently told us that 35 weeks was a good gaol to have. He said with twins, and me having a c-section six months prior, we probably wouldn't have the babies stay in any longer than 37 weeks. At that point, the risks outweighed the benefits in our situation.

Carrying two babies, for me, was much different! I popped quick! This, my doctor said, was mostly due to the fact that I had just been pregnant and...my ovaries were huge.

Here is a comparison of my pregnancies at 19 weeks...

About 24 weeks I started cramping. I went to L&D to find that I had irritable uterus. It was extremely nerve-racking because my doctor wasn't on call and the nurse basically said I had "activity going on". My immediate thought was, I can't lose these babies and I don't need to go into labor yet if I can avoid it. The doctor that saw me said that irritable uterus can be very painful and could cause labor so I had to take it easy.. She told me to stay in bed until I saw my doctor.

Once I saw my dcotor, he felt great hat things still looked so good. He told me to continue to take it easy. He said if it hurt to stand, don't do it. If it hurt to walk, don't do it. So, from that point on, I continued to listen to my body very closely. I didn't do much of anything and I was really good about drinking lots and lots of water and laying on my side as often as possible.

I feel confidant keeping off my feet and water helped me keep Knox & Sloane in as long as I did. Also, it was summer. It was one of the hottest summers we had had in a while. I stayed out of the heat. I went outside maybe a few times a week and it was usually in the evening or early morning for appointments.

Here I am at 27 weeks....

Thankfully, my boss was very, very kind to let me work from home as much as possible. Therefore, I didn't have to leave for work.

When I did go somewhere, I had no shame in using a wheelchair or scooter and taking walking breaks. I had to. I couldn't walk more than a few minutes without feeling pain...

At 36 1/2 weeks, Knox showed signs of IUGR. This basically meant, he was out of room and not growing anymore. The doctor contemplated taking them then, but decided to give it a few days. He also thought Knox was going to be much smaller than he was, so we were glad that wasn't the case!

Here I am the day before they were born......

At thirty-seven weeks, Knox & Sloane blessed us with their presence and it was a wonderful delivery. I felt at east going into the OR, but of course I was very nervous as well. I knew no matter what, we would get through it. It was such a special day. We got to meet the babies we had been praying for for so long. They were perfect.

As I sit here watching Knox & Sloane, nine months later, playing with each other, my heart is full. In five seconds, Sloane will be screaming because she is teething. And poor Knox, he has an itchy skin issue going on that we are trying to figure out, but I'm thankful they are here and healthy. He will get us through it all. He got us to it all and through it all. So, no matter how occasionally painful my pregnancy was, it was worth every single second. I loved being pregnant both times and I love all three of my babies dearly.

I may post more of the birth story in another post. You can check out the slideshow here and my weekly pregnancy updates and pictures here :)

I'd love to hear your pregnancy story. If you've posted it already or want to today and  you want to link up with us, head to Jennifer's blog!

Stay tuned for a giveaway later! :)

Also..
*There are several fundraisers going for Cohen's iPods HERE :)
*Be sure to check out my latest post in the Huggies series on expecting & parenthood HERE.
*Enter to win a $100 Target gift card HERE.
*Enter to win some fabulous skin care products by Darphin HERE.
*Enter to win a $50 Visa gift card HERE.