The Magic of Pregnancy

Today I am 38 weeks pregnant with twin boys. Since the beginning of my pregnancy, doctors have been telling me they don’t allow twin pregnancies to progress past 38 weeks due to increased complications after this point. I’m scheduled to be induced later today.

As I write this, our hospital bags are packed & in the car. Both carseats are snapped in & ready to go. We’ve been to countless doctor appointments, ultrasounds, and tests. We’ve attended hospital classes, breastfeeding classes, Twiniversity (twin-specific!) classes, and read books on childcare & parenting. When people ask me if we’re ready, my response is usually, “Ready as we’ll ever be!”

I’m going to admit something here (that I actually wrote about on Instagram a couple weeks ago) that some women may not like to hear. But I feel it’s important to bring up for a specific reason.

I have actually really loved being pregnant.

Yes, you read that right. It still surprises me to see it being typed with my own fingers.

For so long, I was pretty terrified to try to have children -- for a myriad of reasons, but one of them being the fear of pregnancy. It seems to me that people LOVE to either tell you about their horrible symptoms, or their labor horror stories. Women, why do we do this to each other?

I admit I’ve had what feels to me like a relatively “easy” pregnancy. I thank God every single night for my health & the health of our babies. We’ve had very little complications or issues to speak of, and I’m truly not exaggerating when I say I thank God every night for this.

Yes, I’ve had my fair share of discomforts. Some I can name -- like hip & shoulder pain from sleeping on my side, low back pain (mostly in these last couple of weeks), skin changes, appetite changes, or indigestion. Some are a little more private that I’d prefer not to write about, but believe me, I’ve experienced them.

But the thing I keep coming back to is that there’s this beautiful element to carrying a child (or children, in my case). There’s a constant reminder that there’s a brand new life inside of you. You check your baby apps every week to see what size your baby compares to (my favorites have been a Furby, or a Pomeranian). Each week you read about the different developments going on in your child’s body (and your own body, for that matter!).

You wait and wait and wait to feel those first flutters of movement in your belly. You wonder, “was that the baby?” And when you finally do feel it, it’s indescribable. Then come the actual kicks.

I’ll never forget the moment Steve felt one of the babies kick for the first time. We were traveling for his most recent Ironman race, and it was his birthday. We were relaxing in our hotel room when I grabbed his hand and put it on my tummy where I was feeling them move. It’s one thing to feel it yourself, but to know someone else can feel it too? Crazy. And what a birthday gift!

I know a lot of women despise being pregnant. Of course they love their children, but hate the process of growing them. Like I said before, I feel extremely lucky to have not had that kind of experience. But I want to highlight the fact that pregnancy can be beautiful. It can be something you enjoy and cherish. Because I didn’t feel like I ever heard much of that (or enough of that), I pushed off starting our family longer than I anticipated I would.

Much to Steve’s dismay, I booked a maternity photoshoot around the end of my second trimester. Sorry Steve, but I am so so glad we took those photos. After our wedding day, it’s probably the most beautiful I’ve ever felt in my life. Shoutout to McKaila Singer Photography yet again for working her magic.

Like I said at the beginning of this post, I’m 38 weeks pregnant today. Everything I’ve read has said that twin pregnancies, in terms of symptoms, feels 4-6 weeks ahead of a singleton pregnancy. So at 36 weeks, it “felt” like being 40-42 weeks pregnant. Obviously I have nothing to compare it to since this is my first pregnancy, but I imagine it was about accurate. I began working from home full-time at 36 weeks because making it through my large office building was physically too much for me. 

I’ve definitely been in the “home stretch” for a couple of weeks now, and am certainly feeling like I’m ready to be done being pregnant. Walking is hard, getting in and out of chairs is laughable, sleeping is beyond uncomfortable. But there’s just so much beauty I’ve experienced that it feels silly to complain about any of it now. 

Tonight we head to the hospital for our appointment. We may meet our babies tonight, or sometime tomorrow. Somehow, I imagine all the pains and strains I’ve felt, worries I’ve faced, and anxieties I’ve carried will all disappear when they place these baby boys into my arms.

And I can’t wait.