Second Trimester Blood Tests

Last week (24-weeks along) I had a midwife appointment, which was accompanied by the standard blood work to screen for anemia and gestational diabetes. My current OB, who seems a little risk-focused, of course warned that with twins you are twice as likely to have gestational diabetes since there are twice as many hormones going around in your body. (She may not have said twice, but there was an implication because of the two babies, the risk was greater). I did not have it with my first pregnancy, and just got my results and was very pleased to learn that I do not have gestational diabetes with my twin pregnancy either - hooray! With my first pregnancy I was just barely flagged for anemia and took iron supplements throughout the latter half of my pregnancy. Even though I've been trying to increase my protein and leafy-green vegetables (hello, spinach omlette every morning), it turns out I'm borderline anemic again. I've not been doing the supplements, but I've been taking black strap molasses since it's a good source of iron, in addition to trying to increase iron in my diet.

I'm feeling more confident that as long as things keep going the way they are, that I can carry these twins to at least 37 weeks, which is my goal. I do a pretty good job at managing stress, and am trying to rely more heavily on my mother-in-law and husband to help out when my two-year-old adds to my stress. I'm working on having a healthy diet, especially with increased protein. My midwife has also suggested progesterone cream. Progesterone is something that your body is already producing a lot of during pregnancy, but it's what helps to make the placenta strong. So using the progesterone cream will ideally help make a strong placenta for these babies so there won't be any risk of my water breaking early.

This last part is what seems pretty important to me personally. I believe that the power of our minds and bodies is incredible. During my first pregnancy I had affirmations that I repeated, especially towards the end, that focused on the baby coming when she was ready and her being healthy, etc. I've started my affirmations earlier, but they're up in my bathroom again, and are giving me a positive mindset to trust in my body and its capacity as well as these twins and the miracles they are turning into. It's really amazing how our bodies know how to create life, and these little lives know what nutrients to take and what to do to grow into little humans. I know that this is what my body was designed for and that I can deliver healthy twins.

There's Two!

Approximately five weeks ago, my husband and I went in for our regular ultrasound at 19-weeks. After maybe 20-30 minutes the technician went to go make sure she was getting the right "shots" and was taking a while to come back. When she finally returned she explained that the reason she was taking so long was that there was two. I was completely shocked, my husband completely excited. He said he was wondering after watching her do the beginning of the ultrasound, going from one head view to another head view. I wasn't even paying attention, slightly focused on how full my bladder was and waiting until she said I could go relieve myself. Our ultrasound was cut-off and rescheduled a week later so they could have the full time to get all the shots of each twin. Not knowing much about twins myself, I was initially flooded with concerns about intertwined cords and sharing the same sacs and what that would mean. Fortunately our second ultrasound revealed that each twin had her (yes, two girls) own sac, and their cords were just fine, among everything else looking healthy and normal. (Our first daughter escalated us to a high-risk pregnancy with her two-vessel cord and she turned out wonderfully). Our doctor has said because they are in separate sacs and the membrane seems prevalent on the ultrasound, that they are most likely fraternal (non-identical) twins.

To back track a little, we had a wonderful first pregnancy and natural delivery, which is everything that I wanted. However, the hospital setting didn't fit exactly with our plan and added some negativity to our birth experience. So, upon finding out we were pregnant again, I immediately began researching birth centers, and one step further - water births. I had heard good things about them in the past and wondered if it would be the right thing for me. Our discovery of twins, gave me some extra concern about whether or not we'd be able to go through with our midwife-birth center-water birth that we wanted. So far we've been doing concurrent care with an OB, and I haven't been completely satisfied with her communication. Although this pregnancy so far has been very normal, she's seemed to focus on the negative, rather than how to maintain a positive pregnancy. The OB said one of the greatest risk factors with twins is them coming early. Which just gave me additional reason to worry, as I think I would be heartbroken if I had to go home without my baby or babies and leave them in the NICU. I know mothers do this, and pump and bring milk to the NICU. I know there are many phenomenal women out there, and phenomenal babies too that thrive and do well...but I was just nervous. Well, during my additional reading, I've discovered that nutrition is a key element to help carry twins to full term. Furthermore, I also discovered that I am more likely to carry the twins past 35 weeks because I am over the age of 30 and this is not my first pregnancy.

So, I've been keeping busy (not only chasing my two-year-old around) with reading Having Twins, by Elizabeth Noble, and When You're Expecting Twins, Triplets, and Quads and educated myself on this unique pregnancy. I have found both books to be pretty informative about twin pregnancies. It's so funny, I thought I had this pregnancy thing down and knew what to expect, until my unexpected news. We do count ourselves very blessed. For our first daughter, we went through rounds of clomid, IUIs, and finally IVF (In Vitro) to conceive her, and we actually had a chance of concieving twins then. This time, we were able to get pregnant naturally with no assistance (on my second time ovulating after having our daughter - pretty amazing) and voila, we're having two. While I do have fraternal uncles on my mom's side, I never expected to get passed that gene.

As I have read more and tried to read more positive twin birth stories, I'm regaining confidence that my body knows what it's doing, that this is what it is designed for, that I can carry these twins to at least 37 weeks (that's my goal, before that point will necessitate a hospital delivery), and that we can have the natural water birth that we want for these twins.