Week 21 Update

It seems like last week rushed by so it doesn't feel like much has happened since then.



Feeling blah enough at 21 weeks 1 day.
I didn't feel like including a face picture or like matching my clothes!

I did learn what it is like to be sick while pregnant. I've had a bit of a nasty cold. Yuck! I've had so much congestion I feel like I can't breathe through my nose and the babies are settling into my abdomen so it feels like I can't breathe deep into my lungs, either. Coughing isn't fun as I find myself gagging and close to vomiting on my own mucous. Thank you pregnancy gag reflex! I am slowly getting better (yay) with a new appreciation for the added discomforts of pregnancy on top of cold symptoms.

Today I was feeling bored alone inside my house so I went for an evening walk. It was so beautiful -- green and lush and a perfect temperature. But I felt my time for enjoyment running out quickly as I could feel myself waddling ever so slowly through the neighborhood. Luckily there weren't too many people around to notice the poor pregnant girl barely making it back home, huffing and puffing, feeling her hands swell and go more and more numb, and trying to brace her back in that classic pose of pregnancy (only failing, because the numbness and pain in the hands prevented me from even sufficiently doing this). But it was lovely while it lasted. And maybe it is time for one of those pregnancy back support braces because I seem to get achy and crampy with any more walking than to and from the car! (Anyone have any suggestions on this?) Oh, and how do people continue to run (or exercise) in pregnancy! --I've not had good luck with this despite my best intentions.

Erin's eye-view of my slowly moving belly on a summer night's stroll

I also had my first "are they identical?" question...after I told her it was a boy and a girl. Previously, Abe and I had said we would answer this question YES! every time. We might even add, "In fact, we have to put bows in their hair in the tub so we don't get confused." Think about that one for a minute.

But I couldn't say that to this nice lady and so instead explained to her that they are fraternal twins. As a twin myself, I have a hard time understanding the confusion on this (it is something I've known from an early age), but I guess some people just don't know.

So, to fill you in just in case:

• Identical twins split from the same egg. This means they share the same DNA, or genes. So, for all intents and purposes, boy-girl twins are not identical. These are also called monozygotic twins.

Two peas in a pod, my identical twin and I.
I hope our twins still have that unique bond from growing up together.

• Fraternal twins are from two separate eggs and are as much alike genetically as they would be to siblings born at a separate time. These can be boy-girl, girl-girl, or boy-boy. Also called dizygotic twins.

My babies will be as genetically similar as my own brother and I are to each other.
If they are like my family, that may mean they still look a lot alike!

Being identical or fraternal doesn't come down to how much alike you think twins look to each other. Growing up, people would argue with my sister and I on occasion, stating they could tell differences between us so we couldn't be identical. They were right in a way, as our mantra was "Similar but different!" But it really does come down to the DNA so isn't up for debate. Most twins probably need DNA testing to know for sure, unless you are boy-girl (fraternal) or share a placenta (like my sister and I, who are identical).

• Interesting trivia for the day: Mary-Kate and Ashley Olson are rumored to be fraternal twins despite building a billion dollar brand on being twins! So sometimes looks can be deceiving!
• Our triplet baby C would have been another boy with DNA matching baby B, if he had survived = identical to baby B, fraternal to baby A.

Week 21 day 0:
Weight: 165.3 lbs (home)

Total Weight Gain: 23.3 lbs

 

Babies:

Baby A: Girl!

Baby B: Boy!

 

Symptoms:

evening tiredness

arm/hand numbness -- this seems to have stabilized with only mild and occasional pain

gagging and vomiting after brushing my teeth (decreased)

minor hand and foot swelling (continues)

severe reflux -- Tums and Maalox (not quite cutting it!)

discomfort -- it's getting hard to move from a sitting position, shortness of breath at times, feeling big and tight in the belly

cold symptoms -- yuck!

sleep -- all I need to say is this is what my bed looks like in the morning, a mess of pillows and blankets