Hi friends! Goodness, I have been terrible at blogging lately. I have to admit, its tricky navigating these post-TTC, now-pregnant waters. My heart still aches for those in the waiting season and I don’t want my pregnancy to be something that causes a triggering effect for grief. Because of that, I think I have closed myself off to writing for a bit, but when I lay in bed at night, my brain writes and I ache to get these words back out onto the screen. I was waiting for a big beautiful eloquent piece to come to me to break back in, but alas, said piece hasn’t come yet. So I have decided to simply just jump back in with an ice breaker, and then carry on as usual from there.:)

I will use this post to provide a little pregnancy update, so proceed with caution and if you decide to skip this one and come back later, please feel free!!!!

Tomorrow I will be 19 weeks pregnant! Where has time gone!? I am not sure. Here’s a sneak peek of what my bump looked like at 17 weeks. I find myself walking past the mirror and forgetting that I am pregnant and shocking myself with these two growing babes. I feel incredibly blessed every minute of the day and it still feels so surreal. Thank you Jesus!

To sum up where we are today, I thought I would borrow and modify what my friend Elena does over at Baby Ridley Bump and provide a little weekly update. Hopefully it’ll summarize things up to this point.

How far along? 18 weeks + 6 days

Gender: Boy / Girl

Weight Gain? 5 pounds

Maternity Clothes?  YES! I have fallen in love with LuLaRoe leggings and maternity jeans. I am not sure how I will go back to button-pants when this pregnancy is done. I started wearing maternity clothes around 8-9 weeks because I found them most comfortable. I was on Prednisone for the first several weeks of my pregnancy for my antihistamine protocol and felt very swollen and bloated from that. Maternity shirts are super comfortable as well and I love the length!

Stretch Marks? None that weren’t already there haha.

Belly button in or out?  In

Sleep:  My first trimester I was up every 2 hours with bathroom breaks, but have found second trimester to be much kinder. I tend to only get up twice a night now and can get solid stretches of sleep between then. However, when I am having an insomnia filled night, the hope of sleep is lost and I usually just get out of bed and work on a project. The other night I cleaned out my closet and nested away.

Best moment this week: I started feeling Baby A move around daily and it’s so much fun experiencing that. Baby B has an anterior placenta, so it will be a while before I feel the squirms. Baby A tends to love when Daddy comes home and sister Cali barks hello, and also, loves listening to jazz music with Mommy while driving.

Symptoms:  Goodness, I have been so blessed. I managed to have a morning-sickness free pregnancy (thus far) and my only two “symptoms” have been a minimal appetite and back pain. Neither of those things stand in the way of me being overjoyed all of the time! I eat smaller snacks throughout the day to attempt to get my protein and calories in for the day, and rest with a heating pad + tylenol when standing becomes too painful. Thankfully my schedule allows for flexibility to take it easy. SO grateful.

Miss Anything?  Nada! Take it all away! I am loving this! (Although, I probably will have steak tartar within a week of giving birth. It sure does sound amazing!)

Cravings?  No cravings. Again, eating in general never sounds exciting, but once in a while something will sound good and then I eat it quickly before my stomach realizes food in coming in. My early weeks I loved Buffalo Wild Wings, but nothing special since then.

Food aversions? Eggs and pizza sauce.

Queasy or sick?  Nope!

Looking forward to?  We have our first appointment with our perinatologist on Friday for a 2-3 hour scan and I am looking forward to seeing these babies again! It’s been our longest stretch of time without an ultrasound – about a month! – and that’s been mentally challenging. Excited to see how they are growing and developing, and to get a good thorough look at all their organs and such. Prayers appreciated as we go into this Level 2 scan!

Activity: I was cleared from bedrest around week 12, and then given the okay around week 16 to start mild exercise. I got a membership at a local gym and go to walk on the treadmill 4-5 times a week for 45 minutes. It’s nice to get a few miles in and stay healthy. The gym also has a pool which will be nice as I continue to grow.

Complications / Medications? I am so happy to say my subchorionic hemorrhage is all cleared up and gone! Things are going smoothly! I weened off of my estrogen and progesterone (YAHOO!). I just take a handful of vitamins now, along with my nightly Lovenox injections for my Factor V.

Nursery Update: Josh and I were instructed to have the nursery ready between weeks 24-28 with twins, and so while moving is still comfortable, we went shopping and picked out our furniture! (Hello Surreal Moment #142). Some of the set was on back order, so we will be getting it mid-February. In the meantime, we will have the room painted and new flooring put in by the end of the month. Our bedding has been picked out and while we still have a long way to go before it’s done, we are making some progress! YAY! The babies will share a nursery while they are young, but each have their own crib.

There you go! And while I’m pregnancy sharing, I thought I’d share with you my 5 pregnancy must-have’s from my experience so far.:)

1) LuLaRoe Leggings. I am not kidding, these have been wonderful! My friend Ashley sent me a pair as a surprise during my two week wait, and a few more pairs made their way into my home since then. They are soft, comfortable, and the TC size has made it possible to grow and still have them fit wonderfully.

2) Write the Word journals. Pregnancy post infertility and recurrent pregnancy loss is hard and the mental game is tough. I have loved my Lara Casey ‘Write the Word’ journals because each day I can hop into the Bible and literally just write out the scripture passage for the day, taking my mind off of the worries and placing them on Him. It also gives me space to write out what I am grateful for that day and what’s on my heart, which I use for prayer journaling. This has been a great tool!

3) Boppy Pregnancy Wedge. I don’t think I realized how the weight of the bump would make it tough to get comfortable while sitting or laying down. This pregnancy wedge has been a life saver! I use it for my lower back and for belly support. It’s pretty small and is easy to travel with too. Winner winner!

4) The Snoogle. I got this early on in my pregnancy as a gift and it has been wonderful!!! It has made sleeping comfortable. I do routinely have to fight Cali for it, who seems to believe this Snoogle is for her. *sigh*

5) Gap and Old Navy maternity shirts. I love the Gap Pure Body long and short sleeve tee and the fitted scoop neck shirts from Old Navy. They wash really well, and are soft and comfortable to wear.

Okay, I lied, it’s going to be 6.

6) This cup for Joann Fabric. I know, how can a cup be so awesome!? But this cup has saved the day in helping me get 120+ oz of water in each day. The straw is wider than most and the cup holds 24 oz in it. I know it sounds silly to say a cup can change your life, but this cup has been a blessing. (It is only available in stores – the linked one is ugly, there are cuter designs. They are by the baking area and the 40% off coupons work on them.) (Shout out to my friend Julie for introducing me to it!)

There you have it! My beloved maternity go to’s … at least the ones I am recalling right now.

Now that I have broken the writing ice, I hope to get back into a regular routine, including lots of non-pregnancy thoughts and posts.  Thanks for all the continued love and support and prayers!

PS – And midst the excitement of progressing in weeks, my sister got engaged!! YAHOO! How cute are the happy couple!? We sure had a blessed 2016!