I have certainly discovered that being pregnant with twins is different than a singleton birth. Perhaps I was spoiled when I was pregnant with Will and it gave me a warped point of view of being pregnant - I had it easy. I had hardly any symptoms the first 12 weeks and felt great the rest of the pregnancy until literally the last couple days until Will was born when I felt every bit 9 months pregnant. But I loved being pregnant, I really did.
This time around has been a bit different. I felt fine in the beginning but, as a couple posts below alluded to, I have quickly learned that my body cannot handle a lot of excitement. Its not that I have to be doing a lot of vigorous activity or moving around - just going places and not resting at home can be taxing on me. And that is just plain WIERD to me.
My 13th week of pregnancy was really hard. Everything about me felt off, and I had these terrible headaches 3-4 times a day and felt really dizzy. I would get up in the morning, take a shower to get ready for work, and then out of nowhere feel extremely dizzy, a little nauseated and my head would pound. And then the rest of the day I would be sluggish. So, I headed to the doctor on Friday of that week to make sure all was okay.
At that appointment, I met with my regular OB (my practice makes you rotate around to the different OBs), and I was so glad to talk with her about this pregnancy. She is very straightforward, thorough and lets me know what to expect. She put me on an extra prenatal vitamin to take at night (a vitamin for each baby), and I think that has made a big difference. She also sat down and talked to me about what to expect with a multiple pregnancy. She explained that she asks most of her patients pregnant with multiples to go part time by 25 weeks. Yea...thats like mid-January for me. I started to cry a little bit, freaking out about what this might mean work-wise. She asked me if I had any trials coming up or big cases and encouraged me to tell folks I work for not to give me any new, big cases but to finish up what I have and ride it out a little.
I left that appointment both relieved to get a little perspective and honesty about what to expect, and also scared of what this might mean for me. The 13th week was a wake up call to me about what it really meant to have a high risk pregnancy.
I left that appointment both relieved to get a little perspective and honesty about what to expect, and also scared of what this might mean for me. The 13th week was a wake up call to me about what it really meant to have a high risk pregnancy.
I also have since realized that the headaches I am suffering from must be migraines. If I do too much (not physical exertion but just not enough rest at home), it usually triggers one. And the migraine can wake me up in the middle of the night and keep me awake for hours while it pounds away, and then my head is pretty sore for the rest of the next day. I have never had migraines, and they suck.
But things are going much better this week. I am recognizing my need to put my feet up sometimes and knowing what the headaches are helps me deal with them better. I have changed my routine so that I take showers and dry my hair the night before so I do not have a chance to drop my blood pressure so much in the mrning that I get really dizzy before I head to work. I have talked with the people I work most closely with about what I learned at my appointment. They were all especially nice about it all. I realized that working from home would likely be more than possible for me and will hopefully prevent me having to cut back my hours too much. The partner I worked for told me that he was already prepared for the fact that I may have to cut back soon and just continued to tell me not to worry about it.
So things have been getting a lot better, and I'm hoping the headaches and real fatigue might wear off a little as I get further into my pregnancy. And, hey, many women with twins just reduce their days to maybe 3 days of work a week and make it to 37 weeks, so I could very well be that person. I just know that I need to be prepared should things change for me and the little ones. For the next 6 months or so, this body is theirs, and I need to take care of it for them.
On a funny note (or maybe its not too funny??) - here is my belly shot at 14 weeks. I'm already full into maternity clothes - none of my regular clothes fit anymore.
HA! Compare that to me pregnant with Will at 20 weeks ... okay - yes, you have my permission to laugh your head off at me. Did I mention I am going to be HUGE!
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