What it's like in your 7th month of pregnancy with twins
Remember when I said that my 6th month was my last good, carefree month? Yeah. I was right. For me, the 7th month of a twin pregnancy is when it got real. And by real, I mean really not that much fun. Somehow I made it through and wrapped up my 7th month of pregnancy with twins and am on to the 8th, but here's how things went... And by went, I mean here's how things went south, real fast.
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| 27 weeks pregnant, when I was still feeling pretty decent and even did my hair and makeup! |
Number of weeks gestation: 31 massive weeks of baby growth.
Cravings: SUGAR. All the sugary things. High calorie, sugary lattes (that I NEVER typically drink because hello passport to weight gain), cookies, cakes, fruit, does it have sugar in it? Then I'd love to eat it. I've never had a sweet tooth in my life. Furthermore, I don't FEEL good after I eat sugar. But I'm still eating it because it just sounds and looks so delicious! Full out blaming hormones for these poor consumption choices. This is the worst diet I've ever eaten pregnant. Maybe it's because it's baby 3 and 4 and I know it's my last pregnancy, but I'm just over here like F it, I'm eating the damn donut.
Aversions: Anything spicy... Not because it doesn't sound or look good, or even taste good, but because the heartburn came out of left field at 27 weeks and hit HARD. I really thought I was going to escape the whole pregnancy without any heartburn. Everything was going so well! Then one day the fam and I went out to our favorite Mexican joint so I could get some beef enchiladas (if you've been following my updates or InsaStories, you know those have been my JAM!) I ate the whole plate. And proceeded to have the most miserable night to date of this pregnancy! Not only did the heartburn well up in my chest with burning intensity, it brought pressure with it. Burning fire pressure. I choked on stomach acid vomit. My eyes were watering nonstop. I (attempted) to sleep sitting up. There was no relief from this fiery, burning enchilada hell I had put myself in. And just like that, I got over my need for beef enchiladas - or any spicy food.
Weight gain: 23 pounds. I'm feeling so good about that, a) because of my stupid sweet tooth b) because my babies are sizing in the 60-70 percentile so my lack of weight gain isn't affecting their ability to grow and c) because you can't even tell I'm pregnant from behind. It's literally all in my belly. This isn't my first rodeo! I know that a big mom doesn't mean a big baby - it just means a big mom. And losing baby weight is NO fun. But a small weight gain doesn't mean it's all fun and games because...
My belly is really really heavy - by the end of the day, I'm physically carrying it with my arms! And my round ligaments are screaming at me by 11am. I had scoliosis surgery when I was 12 so the bulk of my spine is fused. Since my spine can bend to accommodate shifting organs, my ribs are dislocating one and a time. You can actually see them popped out when I'm just standing around! When I have Braxton Hicks contractions, it applies immediate pressure on my bladder and if it's full, I'm GOING to pee on myself. Speaking of contractions...
At 29 weeks I had a super busy week - three deadlines for work, all of which had photo shoots, one of which had to be re-shot FOUR times, an eye appointment, an OB appointment, a growth scan, a prenatal massage and facial, it was 103 degrees all week aaaaaaand by Friday morning, I was having regular, timeable contractions. Painless, but they were coming everywhere from every 7-11 mins. This is exactly what happened with my first pregnancy that made me dilate and made my water break with a preterm baby! So I went on bedrest and got them calmed down, and quickly learned that I'm physically too large to have "busy weeks" - my new definition of busy has to be far less than my old one, or I'm putting myself and the babies in jeopardy.
Take a gander at how much I love being told to rest and relax and lay down half the day and not be able to take on all the work projects I want to do. It goes over just swell with my intense, Type A personality!
Workouts: As you can see from above, these have had to take a hit! I'm still managing yoga 2-3 times a week, but it's HARD. I'm the same size as a 42 week pregnant woman, and even when I do all the modifications I know how to do, sometimes just the sheer size of my belly makes certain poses impossible. I'm usually modifying the modifications, or just doing outright different poses that I can still manage. I can tell you with certainty that workouts will stop altogether sometime this month. Not because I want them to, but simply because the size of my belly is in the way of any movement besides waddling (I honestly can't even sit normally, and have had to adjust the seat in my car to a further back and further reclined position just to f'ing drive).
My OB was like look here girlfriend, your body is at max capacity right now. It cannot take any more stress. Even if you were on nonstop bed rest doing nothing physical all day, you'd need to consume an extra 600-800 calories a day for your body to do the job of growing two humans! Don't worry about working out the last two months. Your body is getting a workout creating, carrying, and sustaining three lives.
The third trimester is definitely when things turned from being pleasant with only occasional mild discomfort to the I-got-hit-by-a-bus-send-help level. At this point, I'm wondering if (actually, more like when) simply walking is going to be impossible! I'm so glad the babies are growing well and are healthy but I'm quickly getting over being pregnant. On to the 8th month! Which is sure to be even more fun than the 7th, no? I wanna go back to the fourth and fifth months, those were the good times!
Cravings: SUGAR. All the sugary things. High calorie, sugary lattes (that I NEVER typically drink because hello passport to weight gain), cookies, cakes, fruit, does it have sugar in it? Then I'd love to eat it. I've never had a sweet tooth in my life. Furthermore, I don't FEEL good after I eat sugar. But I'm still eating it because it just sounds and looks so delicious! Full out blaming hormones for these poor consumption choices. This is the worst diet I've ever eaten pregnant. Maybe it's because it's baby 3 and 4 and I know it's my last pregnancy, but I'm just over here like F it, I'm eating the damn donut.
Aversions: Anything spicy... Not because it doesn't sound or look good, or even taste good, but because the heartburn came out of left field at 27 weeks and hit HARD. I really thought I was going to escape the whole pregnancy without any heartburn. Everything was going so well! Then one day the fam and I went out to our favorite Mexican joint so I could get some beef enchiladas (if you've been following my updates or InsaStories, you know those have been my JAM!) I ate the whole plate. And proceeded to have the most miserable night to date of this pregnancy! Not only did the heartburn well up in my chest with burning intensity, it brought pressure with it. Burning fire pressure. I choked on stomach acid vomit. My eyes were watering nonstop. I (attempted) to sleep sitting up. There was no relief from this fiery, burning enchilada hell I had put myself in. And just like that, I got over my need for beef enchiladas - or any spicy food.
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| 28 weeks aaaaaaand can't be bothered with washing my hair. I did put on real pants and mascara though! |
My belly is really really heavy - by the end of the day, I'm physically carrying it with my arms! And my round ligaments are screaming at me by 11am. I had scoliosis surgery when I was 12 so the bulk of my spine is fused. Since my spine can bend to accommodate shifting organs, my ribs are dislocating one and a time. You can actually see them popped out when I'm just standing around! When I have Braxton Hicks contractions, it applies immediate pressure on my bladder and if it's full, I'm GOING to pee on myself. Speaking of contractions...
At 29 weeks I had a super busy week - three deadlines for work, all of which had photo shoots, one of which had to be re-shot FOUR times, an eye appointment, an OB appointment, a growth scan, a prenatal massage and facial, it was 103 degrees all week aaaaaaand by Friday morning, I was having regular, timeable contractions. Painless, but they were coming everywhere from every 7-11 mins. This is exactly what happened with my first pregnancy that made me dilate and made my water break with a preterm baby! So I went on bedrest and got them calmed down, and quickly learned that I'm physically too large to have "busy weeks" - my new definition of busy has to be far less than my old one, or I'm putting myself and the babies in jeopardy.
 |
| 29 weeks, the size of a house and flippin' over it. Struggling to fit into any maternity clothes, too. |
Take a gander at how much I love being told to rest and relax and lay down half the day and not be able to take on all the work projects I want to do. It goes over just swell with my intense, Type A personality!
Workouts: As you can see from above, these have had to take a hit! I'm still managing yoga 2-3 times a week, but it's HARD. I'm the same size as a 42 week pregnant woman, and even when I do all the modifications I know how to do, sometimes just the sheer size of my belly makes certain poses impossible. I'm usually modifying the modifications, or just doing outright different poses that I can still manage. I can tell you with certainty that workouts will stop altogether sometime this month. Not because I want them to, but simply because the size of my belly is in the way of any movement besides waddling (I honestly can't even sit normally, and have had to adjust the seat in my car to a further back and further reclined position just to f'ing drive).
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| 31 weeks. I've outgrown about two thirds of my MATERNITY clothes! |
My OB was like look here girlfriend, your body is at max capacity right now. It cannot take any more stress. Even if you were on nonstop bed rest doing nothing physical all day, you'd need to consume an extra 600-800 calories a day for your body to do the job of growing two humans! Don't worry about working out the last two months. Your body is getting a workout creating, carrying, and sustaining three lives.
The third trimester is definitely when things turned from being pleasant with only occasional mild discomfort to the I-got-hit-by-a-bus-send-help level. At this point, I'm wondering if (actually, more like when) simply walking is going to be impossible! I'm so glad the babies are growing well and are healthy but I'm quickly getting over being pregnant. On to the 8th month! Which is sure to be even more fun than the 7th, no? I wanna go back to the fourth and fifth months, those were the good times!
