Look how far we've come!

 

As we approach 34 weeks, I thought it'd be fun to see some belly pics from the past. On the far left is 7 weeks (mid-September, about a week after the morning sickness set in); in the middle is 20 weeks (mid-December, right after we found out about the twins thing); and on the right is 31 weeks (beginning of March). It's hard to believe those are all me!

You can see in this last photo that the veins in my hands are really pronounced. I think we've mentioned before that in singleton pregnancies, the mom's blood volume increases 30-50%; for moms of multiples, it can increase 100%! I am really noticing the side effects of all that extra blood these days as my extremities swell. Thankfully my sister Alyson is a shoe maven and just sent me 3 new pairs of slip-ons in a slightly larger size so I don't have to shuffle around in my slippers. Thanks Aly! But all that extra blood in my vessels is pressing down more and more on the nerves in my forearms and hands so that I can't really feel much in the finger tips. It's especially bad when writing or typing and I periodically have to stop and shake 'em out to keep the blood from pooling there.

We had our (possibly) last ultrasound last Friday and the girls are really crammed in there. Lefty was 4 lbs. 7 oz. and Pancho was 4 lbs. Lefty is still in the 46th percentile (yay!) and although Pancho is a bit smaller, Dr. Clark isn't worried about it. She says now is the time when their growth rate will start to slow compared to singletons because they're competing for space. The good news is that Pancho (Baby A - the one closer to the cervix) is still head down which means we can go ahead with plans for a vaginal birth. Lefty is still breech, but can be birthed without a C-section as long as she's second in line and doesn't do anything too crazy in there after her sister is born. Hurray!

37 weeks is considered full-term for twins so who knows what might happen in these next few weeks! If you're interested in learning more about the timetable for birthing twins and the different birth options, the multiples page on whattoexpect.com has a simple, straightforward overview.

And did you hear that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are pregnant with twins again? Just another thing we have in common with Brangelina!