[Note: I just realized the other day that I had titled the last two posts with the wrong number of weeks. The photos and the posts themselves had the correct numbers, so I just fixed the titles. Whoops!]

Twenty-five weeks along! It feels like a lot of weeks. In just nine more weeks, I’ll be far enough along that if I go into labor, the babies can be born at our local hospital. Of course, I’m hoping to keep them cooking for 13 more weeks, after which they’re bound to make their arrival. Phew.

Hello, belly. Do these horizontal stripes make me look…pregnant?

Babies are the Size of: Two Napa cabbages, according to one app (“Is that some kind of bourgeois app? What is a Napa cabbage?!” — my husband) and two heads of cauliflower, according to the other app. They’re growing, all righty.

In more realistic terms, we had our growth ultrasound today, and their estimated weights are 1lb12oz (Baby A) and 1lb13oz (Baby B), which means they’re measuring around 26-27 weeks. My uterus is measuring around 34 weeks (if I were only having one baby) and I’ve gained 37 pounds, so I should be absolutely huge by the end. Eeek.

How I’m Doing: I’ve had a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions again this week. Sometimes it feels like I’ll have one every time I stand up, but what I’m realizing is that sometimes that’s actually a contraction but other times it’s just (I think) the fact that my belly feels harder when I’m standing than it does when I’m sitting or lying down. I had another bad episode of heartburn recently, which makes for a total of…just two bad episodes of heartburn so far. See? I barely have anything to complain about.

I have noticed, though, that while I’m feeling good at work and not overly fatigued by spending three days a week in the classroom or in meetings, when I have an unexpected additional day on campus (a day that would normally have been a work-from-home day) it really makes a difference in my mental and physical energy levels. Yesterday’s ten hours on campus did not help matters. I normally use my work-from-home days (Tuesdays and Thursdays) to rest and recover from my classroom days, so without that opportunity to rest, I just wind up feeling completely wrung out. Thankfully, I am home today, grading papers and reading, which I can do from the comfort of my own couch.

Nursery Progress: We finally assembled our cribs! Now it really feels like a nursery. My next projects include touching up the paint on our hand-me-down changing table and starting the sewing for my bird mobile. We’ve also got to hang up some art. All we’ve had to buy so far is paint, the two cribs, and the wall decal, so it hasn’t been too horribly expensive. I’ll share pictures when it’s more done, but I will say right now that I’m so pleased with how it’s coming together!

Doctor Visit: I had my 1-hour glucose screening this morning, and I was a little nervous about passing because with twins, the risk of gestational diabetes is higher. Luckily, I passed! My glucose level was 90 mg/dL, which is great. Go, pancreas! And now I will buy some celebratory donuts. No one should be surprised if these babies are born covered in powdered sugar with a delicious lemony filling, I am saying.

Also today marks the third appointment in a row (so, around 6 weeks in a row) that my blood pressure has measured in my normal-for-me range of 110s/70. For several weeks beforehand, it had been climbing higher with each visit, the top number going into the upper 120s and even into the 130s a few times. My doctor was never concerned, but I was, since those numbers are much higher than what I usually see — and they kept climbing! Now that my numbers have returned to my normal range, though, I am feeling relieved.

I also talked a bit with the doctor about whether or not I’d be able to straight-up choose a C-section if I decided I wanted to. She said I’d always have that option, but if both babies were head down she might try to talk me out of it. That’s not necessarily what I’m planning at the moment, but I just wanted to know if it was an option. I like to plan for all possibilities. Obviously, top priority is and will always be that both babies and I are safe, but, with that said, the one scenario I fear about giving birth is going through labor and birthing Baby A vaginally and then having problems with Baby B and having to go for a C-section to deliver him. I would really like to avoid that. So I was wondering what would happen if I just decided to say eff, it, let’s go for the surgical route. Apparently I am allowed to do that, which is good to know. I am in no way decided on that at this point. Just curious.

Ultrasound: Baby A was head down today and Baby B was breech. Both of them were facing my back, so we didn’t really get to see either baby’s face. Here are some images of legs and feet, though, just for fun.

A’s feet on top; B’s leg below. This is what happens in a twin pregnancy, apparently. Once they start getting this big, it’s harder and harder to get good views of them on the ultrasound due to all the crowding. I’m so glad we’ve had all these chances to see them over the past weeks, so I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything by not seeing their faces today.