How far along? 14 weeks today! Officially in the second trimester. More than 1/3rd of the way to meeting our babies!
Weight gain: Up to 149lbs. Gained a pound since last week, total gain: 11 pounds. I'm officially the heaviest I've ever been! My face is already looking rather round to me these days. I wonder what it will look like by the end.
How are you feeling: No relief from the nausea in sight, sorry to say! I'm just plugging along taking it one day at a time.
I notice my bump now! If I'm sitting down and try to bend over to pick something up from the floor it feels like it is "in the way." It's not really in the way yet, but that's the best I can describe it. It feels "present."
I can pretty much only sleep on my sides now, but I'm mostly a side sleeper anyway so no big deal. Comfort-wise I am sleeping fine, but I do wake up 3-5 times each night to pee. Good grief. I imagine this is only going to get worse too!
One other pregnancy symptom I've developed is a bad taste in my mouth. I've tried to think how I can describe it but I just can't find the words. It just tastes bad. I don't like to chew gum so I just brush my teeth a lot. If you have any advice for minimizing the bad taste please let me know!
And speaking of teeth, for those of you who had nausea in your pregnancy, what did you do about the dentist? I'm about a month overdue for a cleaning. I've been putting it off because having someone work on my mouth when I feel like throwing up does not sound fun! However I can't imagine I'm going to find the time when I'm nursing infant twins either. Is there a way to get a dental cleaning where they don't put anything in your mouth!? ;-)
Noteworthy moments: Any of you who have been through infertility know how hard Christmas can be. Last year at Christmas time we had just lost our first two embryos. We hung a special ornament on the tree in their honor, one given to us in their memory. We haven't set up our tree yet, but we did go out to buy some lights and decor. While we were shopping we found the sweetest pairs of baby moccasin ornaments. We purchased two to hang on our tree in anticipation of their arrival! I cannot tell you how much joy I feel this Christmas, knowing that the emptiness I felt last year has been replaced with fullness and expectation. We have so much to rejoice over this year!
Get a little spiritual: This weekend we had our first snow here in West Michigan. John, Arie, and I took advantage of the picturesque beauty to take some photos for our Christmas card. After we shot the ones of our family I asked John to take one of me with my bump. Here it is:
It's embarrassing how long I've stared at this picture, but it hasn't been out of narcissism. It's because I can hardly believe that is me in the picture! I think back over the years when I feared I would never take a picture like this, never see my belly grow, never know what it was like to grow a life inside; that fear was dark and painful and absolutely hollowing. I wanted this pregnancy desperately.
And now I have it. Times two.
It feels miraculous.
Well it feels terrible physically, but spiritually it feels miraculous. This picture is so precious to me because when I look at it I can remove myself from the nausea and see this pregnancy for the truly beautiful thing that it is.
The LORD has been so gracious to me and I am eternally grateful for this gift.
xo
Weight gain: Up to 149lbs. Gained a pound since last week, total gain: 11 pounds. I'm officially the heaviest I've ever been! My face is already looking rather round to me these days. I wonder what it will look like by the end.
How are you feeling: No relief from the nausea in sight, sorry to say! I'm just plugging along taking it one day at a time.
I notice my bump now! If I'm sitting down and try to bend over to pick something up from the floor it feels like it is "in the way." It's not really in the way yet, but that's the best I can describe it. It feels "present."
I can pretty much only sleep on my sides now, but I'm mostly a side sleeper anyway so no big deal. Comfort-wise I am sleeping fine, but I do wake up 3-5 times each night to pee. Good grief. I imagine this is only going to get worse too!
One other pregnancy symptom I've developed is a bad taste in my mouth. I've tried to think how I can describe it but I just can't find the words. It just tastes bad. I don't like to chew gum so I just brush my teeth a lot. If you have any advice for minimizing the bad taste please let me know!
And speaking of teeth, for those of you who had nausea in your pregnancy, what did you do about the dentist? I'm about a month overdue for a cleaning. I've been putting it off because having someone work on my mouth when I feel like throwing up does not sound fun! However I can't imagine I'm going to find the time when I'm nursing infant twins either. Is there a way to get a dental cleaning where they don't put anything in your mouth!? ;-)
Noteworthy moments: Any of you who have been through infertility know how hard Christmas can be. Last year at Christmas time we had just lost our first two embryos. We hung a special ornament on the tree in their honor, one given to us in their memory. We haven't set up our tree yet, but we did go out to buy some lights and decor. While we were shopping we found the sweetest pairs of baby moccasin ornaments. We purchased two to hang on our tree in anticipation of their arrival! I cannot tell you how much joy I feel this Christmas, knowing that the emptiness I felt last year has been replaced with fullness and expectation. We have so much to rejoice over this year!
Get a little spiritual: This weekend we had our first snow here in West Michigan. John, Arie, and I took advantage of the picturesque beauty to take some photos for our Christmas card. After we shot the ones of our family I asked John to take one of me with my bump. Here it is:
It's embarrassing how long I've stared at this picture, but it hasn't been out of narcissism. It's because I can hardly believe that is me in the picture! I think back over the years when I feared I would never take a picture like this, never see my belly grow, never know what it was like to grow a life inside; that fear was dark and painful and absolutely hollowing. I wanted this pregnancy desperately.
And now I have it. Times two.
It feels miraculous.
Well it feels terrible physically, but spiritually it feels miraculous. This picture is so precious to me because when I look at it I can remove myself from the nausea and see this pregnancy for the truly beautiful thing that it is.
The LORD has been so gracious to me and I am eternally grateful for this gift.
xo
Jill, it has been such a blessing to get to read your blog posts about the "littles." Thank you for letting us all share in the joys (and not so much joys of early pregnancy) with you. You, John and Arie are in my prayers. Have a blessed Thanksgiving!
ReplyDeleteThank you Dawn! A happy thanksgiving to you as well!
DeleteI love reading your updates. Such a beautiful bump picture, you stare at it all you want because it is a miracle and such a huge blessing God has given to your family! Imagine the two new faces that will be in your Christmas pictures next year, so exciting! As far as the bad taste in the mouth during pregnancy goes I also suffer from that as well, not fun. I've found Altoids to be somewhat helpful and also Newmans Own Ginger mints (help with nausea too). Otherwise just the teeth brushing, which is a pain but from what I remember mine didn't last the entire pregnancy. Your family is always in my prayers, have a happy Thanksgiving!
ReplyDeleteIt is so fun to think about how different next Christmas will look! Happy Thanksgiving to you as well!
DeleteYou have a small window to get dental work done,it's before the third trimester. I just had dental surgery on a tooth on its last life that kept getting infected. I was 24 weeks pregnant (Turns out I had weird tooth anatomy and the 2 prior root canals weren't done correctly ) I can't even imagine with 2 babies I couldn't get a cleaning done with one! So I would definitely recommend getting dental work out of the way since it's never going to go away....have a happy thanksgiving!
ReplyDeleteI ended up calling to make an appointment yesterday and they got me in the same day! My teeth are all clean. Thanks for the advice!
DeleteOrange Tic Tacs for the bad taste. Stacy McNeely will concur!
ReplyDeleteHa! She totally texted me with that recommendation! Thanks Jeannine.
DeleteBuy one of those tongue scrapers! It helped me get some of the bad taste out of my mouth... I didn't do it when I was really sick though so I wouldn't throw up... It will pass! One day you will wake up and you will feel better! :) Thinking of and praying for you and those babies!
ReplyDeleteOoof. Just the idea of a tongue scraper makes my stomach turn. :-P Thanks for the prayers!
DeleteWe have pursued embryo adoption after reading your blog and today we got our first positive pregnancy test! What a glorious holiday season!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Clare! So happy for you. A glorious season indeed!
DeleteYour blog was recommended to me, I too fought infertility and am now pregnant with twins. We did egg donor IVF. We are actually exactly the same in our pregnancies. I hit 14 weeks on the 24th as well. I look forward to reading back through your blog.
ReplyDeleteMy midwife turned me onto cinnamon altoids. Helped with the nausea AND the yucky taste. (Which I only experienced with my daughters' pregnancies, not my son's. Just sayin'. ;)
ReplyDelete