Rockin' the Bump - Belly Pic

I have tons of pictures from my pregnancy scattered throughout my blog, and I'd planned to just grab those for this link up.  But for some reason they aren't loading right.  And I've ghosted my computer since then and can't find the saved files with my old pregnancy pictures.  But it's not all a complete loss - I found this one from when I was 37 weeks pregnant with the twins (I went to 38 weeks, 4 days - Reid weighed 6 lbs. 14 ounces  and Cort weighed 5 lbs. 12 ounces - in case you're curious).

I don't have any preggo pics showing my face after the halfway point, because my face tends to get really fat like the Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters swollen during pregnancy.

My stomach was so huge I only had about 2 shirts left that I could wear at this point.

Whew, glad not to be this size anymore!

Check out more belly pics at Things I Can't Say:

I have a great giveaway right now for eco-friendly green products from Shaklee - you can go enter HERE!

How the Stomach Looks After Twins - The Post Belly Shots

When I was pregnant with twins I wondered a lot about how my body would handle the pregnancy - how healthy I would be, how long I would carry, and yes, what I would look like afterwards. I remember a phone call to one of my long-time friends to break the news. I was about 20 weeks by the time I got around to making the call, but excited. The response? "You know you're going to need plastic surgery for your stomach after this, right? It's going to wreck your body." I was mad and hurt over this comment for days, and unfortunately it wasn't the only upsetting comment I received over being pregnant with twins.

As the pregnancy continued, I found myself looking at websites of post twins belly shots.  Websites where women posted pictures of their stomachs after twins, unhappy with their bodies.  In fact, I couldn't find a single shot of someone who said she accepted where her body was now.  This made me nervous.  Yet I couldn't seem to stop myself from visiting those sites. 

I carried my twins to term.  This picture was taken at 37 weeks.  I carried them for another 11 days after that!  I'd been expecting to deliver early but my twins had other (very good) ideas.  In this picture, I was wearing an XL maternity shirt, one of only 3 remaining shirts that could completely cover my immense stomach.

I gained 55-60 pounds during the pregnancy.  That's some belly!

I confess I feel weird about showing my stomach online.  It makes me uncomfortable.  But I keep thinking that there may be other moms out there who are carrying twins and wondering about the aftermath.  And I want to offer reassurances.

I think part of it is related to genetics.  Twins run in my family.  And part of it may be my commitment to exercise, especially running, which I picked back up ten days postpartum with my doctor's blessing.  Running helps the body snap back into shape.  No doubt part of it may also be luck - some moms do work very hard towards fitness after twins but for whatever reason the stomach does not snap back.  There are obviously no guarantees.

But being pregnant with twins is not necessarily a sentence to needing a tummy tuck to look normal and I'm happy to report that over the past couple of years I've actually met many other moms who are slender and fit after delivering twins. 

So here goes I'm posting my post-twins belly shot, 19 months later.  Keep in mind that it took a lot of time and a lot of workouts to get to the point that I'm willing to post a picture.

Sure, I could criticize.

No, my abs are not as tight as they used to be.

When I bend over or sit I have a pooch of extra skin/fat that wasn't there pre-kids.

My belly button is wrinkly and stretched out (part of this may be the result of a college belly button ring and partly due to a laproscopic surgery done in 2006 that went through my belly button).

And while I'm toned, I don't have a 6 pack, in spite of my devotion to doing core work several days a week.

But you know what?

I totally accept my body! 

I do not need a tummy tuck.  Or even lipo. 

My pants (well, most of them) fit.

I am healthy.  I can run and ride my horse and do yoga.  I can chase my boys and take them hiking and swimming.

And I weigh 124 pounds, exactly what I weighed when I got pregnant with the twins.

Hope I don't lose any followers over this (ha ha)!  So there you have it.

If you're pregnant with twins, eat mostly healthy, be active, and be active early. 

Your body won't be exactly the same as it was, but it doesn't necessarily have to offend either.

It can be beautiful after twins.  It's all in the eye of the beholder.

And I'm thankful to have a healthy body - may it serve me well for many more years!

To read about my pregnancy with the twins from the start, click HERE.

Have you entered my giveaway yet for a cedar bluebird house and a squirrel proof bird feeder?

Pregnant with Twins, the Third Trimester

As promised, I continue my pregnancy summary.  Because everyone loves a good pregnancy tale.  The above picture is from 29 weeks.  I was already getting the comments from random strangers.  You know the ones.  You look like you're going to pop!  You must be uncomfortable!  You must be due any day now.  Are you having twins? 

Of course, once I confirmed that I was having twins, there was a plethora of horror stories that every single person I met insisted upon sharing. 

• My neighbor was on bedrest for 12 weeks, in the hospital, when she had twins.
• My cousin had twins and she had the first one vaginally then had a c-section for the second.  Only the baby was stuck so the first cut couldn't get it out and they had to do another, vertical incision, from her belly button down. (my personal favorite horror story)
• Oh, I had twins.  Be sure to suck in your stomach all the time.  Otherwise your back will permanently give out.  (yeah, that was soooo helpful)
• I got so big I couldn't walk at the end.  I had to use a wheelchair.
• I know someone who had twins and after she had the first one it was another EIGHT hours before she gave birth to the second.

If you are reading this and are pregnant with twins, just IGNORE all the horror stories.  They will do nothing but make you neurotic.  Which I certainly was.  But my doula made me feel better.  She started coming to meet with Paul and I in our home.  She gave us videos to watch, books to read, and activities to complete.  Something about TAKING action towards the birth was so reassuring.  It really made me feel in control, even though I knew that bottom line was that anything could happen. 

Pierce and I at Hilton Head around 30 weeks. 

By this time I was uncomfortable for sure.  I had to stop every hour at least for a bathroom break.  I had stolen the couch cushions from my coworker's office to pad my office chair and offer more support to my back.  When trying to get out of bed, I was like a floundering whale, rolling onto my side, kicking my legs off the bed, and struggling to get myself up.  But honestly, it just wasn't as bad as I had expected it to be. 

32 weeks, pregnant with twins

This was the point I started having trouble finding shirts that actually covered my belly.  Even some of the XL shirts left a small gap.  I was constantly pulling my shirts down, for fear of rendering shock into someone who actually caught sight of my belly in the raw.  My belly button was definitely poking out by now (which it didn't do in my first pregnancy) and it was tender.  The only stretch mark I got the whole pregnancy was actually inside my belly button.  A good place to have a stretch mark if you ask me.

34 weeks pregnant with twins.  Look at that.  My belly was bigger than FOUR Elmos!

I continued to have ultrasounds with each visit to my ob/gyn.  The boys looked great except Baby B continued flipping back and forth between breech and head down.  Every week he was in a new position.  At one point, he was positioned so crazy that my doctor couldn't see his head, after trying for a good 30 minutes.  He called in an extra ultrasound tech and she couldn't find it either.  I joked about having a headless baby but neither one of them seemed to think that was very funny.

34 weeks marked a big milestone.  Because my doctor said that after 34 weeks if I went into labor he wouldn't try to stop it.  So I could labor at home for a while and then go in to the hospital when the time came.  Not that I was wanting to have them so early, but it was nice to know where I was in the grand scheme of things.  From research online, I knew that most twins are born between 36 and 37 weeks. 

Meanwhile, my blood pressure was starting to go up some.  You probably remember that I'd had preeclampsia with Pierce, so I was hoping I could just keep things calm enough this time to avoid growth restriction and induction. 

36 weeks

Keep in mind this is JULY.  I am this huge in the middle of summer.  This shirt is an XL and it's just barely getting the job done.  I had about 4 shirts at this point that I could wear.  I was so hot all the time that I frequently thought the air conditioning in the car was broken.  I kept complaining to my husband that we needed to get it looked at.  Really, it was just my personal thermostat that was out of whack.

I completely lost all concentration at this point.  I'm an avid reader, but I couldn't read anything except suspense novels during this time.  Nothing else would hold my attention.  The more my stomach stretched towards the Virginia state border, the more I was ready to give birth.



I was certain that this picture, at 37 weeks, would be the last I would have to endure.  I couldn't believe I'd made it to term!  My blood pressure was rough though, so my doctor had me take a week off work, and we did one of those marvelously fun 24 hour urine collections.  The week off work helped my blood pressure come back down.  I stayed off my feet and read the Twilight series.  I was so excited to meet the twins.  The days crawled by.  That Friday, given the clear to start doing things again, I walked 3 miles in an effort to start labor.  I ate pineapple.  Eggplant parmesan.  I rubbed evening primrose oil on my belly.  I even walked up a huge hill backwards (hey, I was ready to try ANY old wife's tale remedy except castor oil - ick!)

As the possibility of another weekend sitting around loomed, I just knew I had to do something to make the time go by.  So we took a side trip to do some shopping with my mom and eat out.  She couldn't believe I was still running around being so huge.  It actually felt better to be up and moving, for the most part.  Meanwhile, Baby B was breech again.  When he turned, it was so painful.  He would kick against my organs and scramble, trying to get into position.  I was really starting to worry about it, as was my doctor.  He kept asking if I was sure I didn't want to do a c-section.  But I was adament that if he was breech when Baby A was born, that we try to turn him.  My doctor was uncomfortable, yet willing.  He had a specialist in such matters on call for backup, should it come to that.

38 weeks pregnant with twins.  YIKES.

I began to feel kind of desperate at this point.  I didn't want to be induced, but when on earth would they come?  At my 38 week 2 days appointment, dilated 3 centimeters, I begged my doctor to strip the membranes.  He obliged, somewhat reluctantly, because he was going to be out of town that weekend.  But Baby B was head down at least.  People always ask - so yes, stripping the membranes hurts.  But HELLO, you're about to go through labor.  Believe me, comparatively it is not a big deal.

The next day I had contractions.  Off and on all day.  I'd get so excited only to have them fizzle out.  I had Paul walk around downtown with me during lunch to try to make them stick.  Every morning when I'd wake up to have gone through another night without labor, I was so disappointed.  My doula (when I had called her in frustration) had explained that I was most likely to go into labor in the middle of the night.

That Friday was my 13 year wedding anniversary.  I was 38 weeks 3 days pregnant.  I went to work and had contractions all day, as usual.  Nothing concrete though, although some of them were getting kind of painful.  That evening, Paul and Pierce and I went out to eat at The Homeplace, a homestyle restaurant in the mountains that has the best southern cooking around.  I had gotten Paul this huge cabana style tent for our anniversary, which he set up in the middle of our living room.  He and Pierce played in the tent all evening.  It took up the whole room it was so big. 

Next up, the labor story...

Click HERE to read the birth story.

Click HERE to read about the second trimester.

Pregnant with Twins, the Second Trimester

It's always such a nice thing to turn the corner into a new trimester when you're pregnant. The second trimester marked being 1/3rd of the way through to me, and of course, meant that the twins were likely to stick around. I got excellent results back from the nuchal fold scan and blood work, and the general preggonoia that accompanies pregnancy was somewhat in remission, other than some nervousness over having twins in general. I had to focus my preggonoia somewhere, so I started worrying about the c-section rates. From what I found online, 50% of twin pregnancies were c-sections. So I started looking for a doula. It was the only thing I could think of that would help me prevent a c-section (other than just generally trying to stay healthy). It turns out that many doulas will work with a mother having twins for free, just to get the experience. Apparently, there aren't very many moms-to-be of twins who are aiming for a natural birth. And so I found Crystal. She was sitting for an exam to receive her midwife certification right around my due date, and was eager for the experience of a twin birth. She was young, vivacious, glowing and such a positive presence that I knew she would be perfect.
Meanwhile, I had my 16 week appointment. My doctor gave ultrasounds every single visit. He said that he didn't feel the doppler was reliable with twins, so he wanted to actually see the hearts beating each time. I had no objections to that! And so it was that at my 16 week appointment I asked if he could tell the sexes yet. I confess that I'd been hoping for a girl in there somewhere. Dr. Harding announced that Baby A was a boy, and I could see it for myself on the ultrasound. I held out hope that Baby B would be a girl, but I could see for myself that it was not to be. I did feel a moment's disappointment, but that quickly changed over to enthusiasm as I thought of how close the three brothers would be.
16 weeks (click on picture to see full view):

With my waist band expanding so quickly, I did have a lot of pelvic aches and pains. But I continued to run until 20 weeks, with my doctor's blessing. At 20 weeks, he said, "You're really starting to worry me." This is because there is such a high risk of premature labor with twins. And when running, I would have lots of Braxton Hicks contractions (they actually started around 15 weeks, when I first started feeling movement). And so, I stopped running at the halfway point, in hopes of keeping myself and the twins healthy.
24 weeks:

By the end of the 2nd trimester, things were starting to get uncomfortable. I was sleeping (when I did sleep) with about 6 pillows. Paul called my pillows The Great Wall of China. But I must say, it wasn't nearly as bad as I'd expected. Truly, when I found out I was pregnant with twins I expected the worst, but so far, it hadn't been nearly as bad as my pregnancy with Pierce. The end of the 2nd trimester also marked the beginnings of a new worry. Baby B was breech. I began to pin all my hopes on him turning his little butt around before delivery day.
Click HERE to read about the third trimester.
Click HERE to read about the first trimester.

Pregnant with Twins, Part I.

My mother had always warned me I might have twins. She would say in (to me) an ominous voice, "You're the generation marked for twins". I ignored her. This is a prime example of why you should not ignore your mother. She knows what she's talking about.
So early December 2008 found me in a new doctor's office, interviewing him as a potential new ob/gyn. In truth, I was about 4 days pregnant at the time, but of course didn't know it. I had loved my previous ob/gyn, but the only other doctor I liked in the practice had left. Which left 3 alternate doctors that I did.not.like.one.bit. In fact, I disliked them so much that had they been on call when I went into labor, I might've just delivered at home. Okay, not really, but you get the point. So anyhow, there I was meeting with Dr. Harding. Who I liked. Because he was a runner. And could talk running jargon with me. Plus, he seemed laid back. When you're a neurotic like myself, a laid back doctor is definitely a good thing. He had come highly recommended by my friend, Annie, who had given birth naturally with him as her doctor. So, with a few reservations, I decided to switch. And shortly after making the decision, I got the positive pregnancy test.
So I immediately ordered Pierce this shirt that had a penguin on the front and said, "I've got a Christmas surprise". On the back it said, "I'm going to be a big brother". Cute, huh? Then I called Dr. Harding's office and begged for an early ultrasound so that I could break the news to family over Christmas. They agreed. Gotta love a flexible practice!
My appointment was right around 6 weeks. And the ultrasound tech wasted no time in telling me there were twins. She showed me both little black dots, with just the beginnings of a heartbeat each. One twin had a heartbeat so irregular, it couldn't be measured, because it was just getting started. Now, never, in my whole life, had I wanted twins. But the second I saw those two little black ultrasound dots, I wanted them more than I'd ever wanted anything I didn't know I wanted! Of course, there was a huge sense of denial about the whole thing too. I didn't think I'd really have twins. But all of the sudden, I definitely wanted to.
When I called Paul to tell him we were having twins, he thought i was joking. He had his own sense of denial I think. And so, we settled in to see what would happen.
At Christmas, Pierce proudly sported his new shirt. And no one noticed. FORTY-FIVE minutes passed and no one remarked on the shirt. And finally. My mom screeched! The message had been spotted! So we pulled out the ultrasound pic which the tech had kindly written "TWINS!" on to show around. My aunt and uncle arrived shortly after this, and they, too, did not notice the shirt. My dad kept saying, "Pierce, I like your shirt". It was fun, waiting to see how long it would take.
Around Christmas was also when the morning sickness kicked in. Surprisingly, it wasn't nearly as bad as with Pierce. I always heard that it would be worse with twins, due to double the hormones, but it wasn't for me. I took the unisom/b6 again during the worst of it, and wore the seabands around the clock, but this time the morning sickness let up around week 11 instead of week 14.  Here I am at 8 1/2 weeks pregnant:

I started showing early, and was in maternity pants by week 9. In fact, during week 9 a coworker actually asked me if I was pregnant. I responded, "If I was, I wouldn't be ready to tell people yet" with a smile. This is the ultrasound pic of the boys from week 9 (note: you can click on this picture to view it in full size).

By week 12, it was truly a struggle to hide the babies bump:

So what a relief it was to be able to announce the news. And with the let up of the morning sickness, I didn't feel bad, other than a general dislike for the state of pregnancy and a significant slowing down of my running. It was extremely hard to hide the pregnancy from my running friends, because I struggled so much to keep up with them (not to mention the inability to run more than 3 miles without a bathroom stop). And so, with the end of the first trimester, I started to accept that I really was going to be birthing twins. With acceptance, came new worries of premature labor, lots of googling, and a huge sense of anxiety over the c-section rate for twins. So began my search for what, if anything, I could do to avoid a c-section and unnecessary intervention during labor.
Click HERE to read about the second trimester.

Twin Birth Story, A Prelude of Sorts

I want to write a bit about the birth of the twins, because I want to give hope to others out there who want to be able to give birth to twins naturally. It seemed that wherever I turned when I was pregnant, there wasn't a soul to be found who hadn't had a horrifying twin birth story that ended in c-section. But before I talk about the twins, I need to talk about Pierce, because so much of what occured in my pregnancy with him affected my decisions in my pregnancy with the twins.
My husband and I were married almost 10 years before deciding to have children. The first 14 weeks of my pregnancy were marked with constant morning sickness. I wore seabands, sipped Gatorade, tried ginger pills, took unisom/b6, and on a couple of occassions when I had to present in court for my job, took Zofran. I had nausea so bad that a couple of times I woke up in the night and the waves of queasiness wrapped around me so hard I was scared to move for fear I would vomit all over myself. It was a long, long first trimester. Sometimes I would just sit there watching the seconds tick by on the clock, wanting the illness to let up and wondering if I would ever feel normal again. And then finally, it lifted. And while the second trimester was an improvement, I've never been one of those people who enjoys being pregnant. I love the end result. But not the pregnancy. I actually longed for labor, looked forward to it, just so the pregnancy could be over. My blood pressure, which seemed to jump up the day I conceived, continued to rise during the 2nd trimester. I'd never had high blood pressure a day in my life, but pregnancy seemed to be a contributor to hypertension for me. By early in the third trimester, I was preeclampic. At 32 weeks, I had alarming swelling all the way up my legs and in my face. I looked like the Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters (and in fact, didn't allow any pictures of myself after this point). My doctor had me come in and my blood pressure was 170/110. And so I was put on partial bed rest. The bed rest helped, a lot. But I couldn't stay away from google and spent a lot of time horrifying myself with stories online of preeclampsia that had tragic endings.
By 37 weeks it was very clear that Pierce wasn't growing well anymore because my blood pressure was so high. An induction was scheduled for 38 weeks 2 days. My doctor was scheduled for neck surgery at the same time, so I had my second choice doctor (which was a good thing, since the other 3 doctors in the practice I didn't like). I went in on a Monday evening at 5:00 for Cervadil. The next morning, with no dilation, we decided to proceed with Pitocin. At 4:30 that afternoon with only 3 cm dilation, they broke my water. I had two epidurals, neither of which took, yet they caused issues by giving me a fever and causing some heart decelerations in Pierce. I never knew at the time this was a potential risk of epidurals. Ill-prepared to deal with the pain, I waited and waited for the doctor. At 9:30 she rolled in, and I had been ready to push for a while - but no one checked me and they ignored my claims and tears that the epidurals did not work. We were fortunate, though. A couple of pushes and Pierce was out safely at 9:40 pm. What a long 28 hours 40 minutes it had been. Due to the growth restriction from the preeclampsia, he was only 5 lbs. 11 ounces.
I recall that his fingernails were totally black when he was born. Yet he was healthy and safely in the world, so that was all that mattered.
I made a commitment to myself that if I ever had another child, I would be better prepared. Since I knew that epidurals didn't really work for me (and was now aware of some of the dangers they posed), I wanted to go in ready to proceed with a completely natural labor and delivery.
Look at my big boy, Pierce, now. Sniff. I love this kid. :-)