I thought about titling this entry 'Cruel Summer’ because that’s kinda
what it’s seemed like Jill is having. I think that’s a bit
short-sighted, though, because we have been fortunate enough to get to
the point we are now with two normal, healthy, VERY LARGE babies and
for that we are certainly grateful.
I’ll go in reverse order of above and start with the ‘Extremely
Uncomfortable.’ Jill is now at about six months. Both of our babies
weigh about 2 pounds, 13 ounces – which – for those non-math majors –
means she already has almost 6 pounds of baby plus two placentas
floating around in there. With 2-3 months to go. Yeah – OUCH! As you
can guess, the babies are causing their mother some serious
discomfort. The boy is situated high in her belly and provides regular
pressure to her diaphragm, which makes it hard for her to breathe. Did
I mention Jill has asthma? This doesn’t help. The girl is low in her
belly and is constantly stretching Jill’s belly down, down, down.
This, too, is not fun for Jill. To top it off, Jill is still getting
sick on a fairly regular basis. So not only can she not eat very much
– there’s no room in her stomach! – but when she does she gets sick
fairly regularly. See what I meant by Cruel Summer? She’s plugging in
there, though. We’ve had basically 5 straight weeks of hosting house
guests and she’s put her game face on when needed and taken naps
whenever she can.
Now you’re ready for ‘the Bad,’ right?? Well, on top of the Friday the
13th episode I wrote about earlier, we’ve had a few other rough spots.
Last week, Jill took the full course of Gestational Diabetes tests and
found out she has a very minor case. All of her scores were just
barely above the normal range, though, so we’re hoping it can be
handled through diet alone. This is bad, but the really bad part was
those few days after diagnosis and before we met with the Dr., where
every website we looked at made us think that both Jill and the kids
would get diabetes and suffer from it for life. Those are still
possibilities, but both are fairly unlikely.
The thing about twins – especially with a mother who is older than 30
or so – is that EVERY system in your body is strained. If we had one
baby, Jill would likely be significantly more comfortable. GD happened
because her body struggled to handle the strain of providing nutrition
for three people at one time. What compounds all this is that there
isn’t a lot of consensus in the research done on multiples. Lots of
“Slight increase in probability’s” and “higher likelihood of’s.” It’s
easy to get scared and instantly plan on the worst case scenario. But
we’re persevering. I keep saying, “lets try not to freak out until
somebody tells us to freak out.” And so far nobody has told us to
freak out. Thankfully!
On to ‘the Good!’ I’m going all caps on this: YOU CAN NEVER HEAR A
DOCTOR SAY YOUR BABIES ARE DOING GREAT ENOUGH TIMES! You really can’t.
Even four or five times in a minute – still doesn’t get old! I just
heard it yesterday and I’m already wanting more! Our babies ARE doing
great. The expression ‘Keep your eyes on the prize” comes to mind. I’m
also looking forward to being able to bear the burden more equitably
with Jill. She’s so uncomfortable some times. I know these words will
come back to haunt me, but I can’t wait to able to say, “I’ll get this
one!”
what it’s seemed like Jill is having. I think that’s a bit
short-sighted, though, because we have been fortunate enough to get to
the point we are now with two normal, healthy, VERY LARGE babies and
for that we are certainly grateful.
I’ll go in reverse order of above and start with the ‘Extremely
Uncomfortable.’ Jill is now at about six months. Both of our babies
weigh about 2 pounds, 13 ounces – which – for those non-math majors –
means she already has almost 6 pounds of baby plus two placentas
floating around in there. With 2-3 months to go. Yeah – OUCH! As you
can guess, the babies are causing their mother some serious
discomfort. The boy is situated high in her belly and provides regular
pressure to her diaphragm, which makes it hard for her to breathe. Did
I mention Jill has asthma? This doesn’t help. The girl is low in her
belly and is constantly stretching Jill’s belly down, down, down.
This, too, is not fun for Jill. To top it off, Jill is still getting
sick on a fairly regular basis. So not only can she not eat very much
– there’s no room in her stomach! – but when she does she gets sick
fairly regularly. See what I meant by Cruel Summer? She’s plugging in
there, though. We’ve had basically 5 straight weeks of hosting house
guests and she’s put her game face on when needed and taken naps
whenever she can.
Now you’re ready for ‘the Bad,’ right?? Well, on top of the Friday the
13th episode I wrote about earlier, we’ve had a few other rough spots.
Last week, Jill took the full course of Gestational Diabetes tests and
found out she has a very minor case. All of her scores were just
barely above the normal range, though, so we’re hoping it can be
handled through diet alone. This is bad, but the really bad part was
those few days after diagnosis and before we met with the Dr., where
every website we looked at made us think that both Jill and the kids
would get diabetes and suffer from it for life. Those are still
possibilities, but both are fairly unlikely.
The thing about twins – especially with a mother who is older than 30
or so – is that EVERY system in your body is strained. If we had one
baby, Jill would likely be significantly more comfortable. GD happened
because her body struggled to handle the strain of providing nutrition
for three people at one time. What compounds all this is that there
isn’t a lot of consensus in the research done on multiples. Lots of
“Slight increase in probability’s” and “higher likelihood of’s.” It’s
easy to get scared and instantly plan on the worst case scenario. But
we’re persevering. I keep saying, “lets try not to freak out until
somebody tells us to freak out.” And so far nobody has told us to
freak out. Thankfully!
On to ‘the Good!’ I’m going all caps on this: YOU CAN NEVER HEAR A
DOCTOR SAY YOUR BABIES ARE DOING GREAT ENOUGH TIMES! You really can’t.
Even four or five times in a minute – still doesn’t get old! I just
heard it yesterday and I’m already wanting more! Our babies ARE doing
great. The expression ‘Keep your eyes on the prize” comes to mind. I’m
also looking forward to being able to bear the burden more equitably
with Jill. She’s so uncomfortable some times. I know these words will
come back to haunt me, but I can’t wait to able to say, “I’ll get this
one!”
