Vital Stats

When you are past 20 weeks, each pre-natal visit is completed with a vital stats measurement.

I am 25 weeks now and yesterday ob-gyn whipped out a measuring tape to measure my mound. It is supposed to be from the top of your pubic bone to the top of your bump, and your measurement in cm should correspond with the number of weeks you are pregnant. Therefore if you are 25 weeks, you should measure 25 cm etc.

I hereby confirm that I am not imagining my gynomous belly. It is officially 5cm bigger than a pregnancy with singleton. Doctor reassured me that is normal.

Honeymoon Trimester Over in a Blip!

At least my Christmas holidays was very enjoyable. Up until 5 months, everyone I met told me that my belly is rather small for someone carrying twins. I should not have basked in the praises because lo and behold, in a mere 2 weeks, my belly button popped and I have a huge belly! I am only 6 months pregnant but I am as big as I was 8 months with Eddie.

Forget about vanity, but the discomfort of having to carry the load in front of me is taking its toll. Also, do not forget that growth acceleration happens in the final trimester! Now I wish that I am still working, apparently bed rest is usually ordered by doctor in the last trimester. After 28th week, the uterus becomes very strained.

Every Pregnancy is DEFINITELY Different

What glow? I have just experienced an acne outbreak on my face!!! It is very sad. I was glowing when I was pregnant with Eddie. Now, 2 weeks shy of my emcee debut role in Saujana I am nursing a face with a fresh batch of pinky pimples.

Why me? On top of that, both corners of my lips are cracked. Not dehydration for sure because the rest of my lips are fine. Googling the subject came up with very very different answers from iron deficiency to bacterial infection. I have slapped on a generous amount of vaseline. Lets see if it works. (Bloody hurts when I open my mouth, ouch!)

Appreciate tips and advices to get rid of the pimples!

Sick

The past 3 days have not been fun at all. Sickness came back in full force, and I am not able to keep ANYTHING down. I tried the anti nausea pills my doctor gave me and even that didn't help. We had no choice but to go in to see him so that he could check on the babies and I. (Hmmnn... I quite like saying that: babies)

My blood pressure is good, babies are growing well, in fact the gender of T1 was made known to us today. Well the other one is keeping us in suspense until the next visit. I shall announce both in 2 weeks' time, when the other one decides to shift position and flash us!

I have lost a bit of weight but I also found out that it is very difficult to starve the babies unless you are extremely malnourished to begin with. You guys probably know that I have enough reserves for my babies to go a long way! hahaha... Nevertheless it is important to keep myself healthy and hydrated.

Honeymoon Trimester?

The second trimester is supposed to be the honeymoon period which begins this week. Not surprisingly, my sickness has not waned. To make matter worse on top of my hip problem, my Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS) kicked in today.

For those unfamiliar with CTS, CTS in a nutshell is compressed median nerve in your wrist (pic above) which is connected to your fingers. The most common symptoms are numbness or pins and needles in your hand. I also experience weakness in my lower arm.

When I was pregnant with Eddie, the CTS came about only some time during my last trimester. The pins and needles in my right hand was 24/7. Imagine having numb hand ALL the time. However you do get used to it. It only went away about 1 month after I had Eddie.

I just cannot believe that this time around, I will have to put up with pins and needles for the next 150 days or so.

A Case of Pain in the Butt

I have seen 2 physios to try and fix the pain in my right bottom, to be precise. The general consensus seems to be that a fall over a year ago has destabilised my right pelvis, while pregnancy relaxin hormone has further weakened it. Therefore my butt muscles have been working overtime to hold everything together which then resulted in compressed nerve; hence the shooting pain from the butt down to the back of my thigh.

I have spent a total of 2 and a half hour this week experiencing various types of treatments and manipulation of my bones. Since my pelvis is weak anyway I had to do exercises to streghten them. One physio told me to do kegel exercise 100 times a day, while the other one told me to "tighten my anus" 400 times a day! Bloody hell which is which I wonder.

What tickled me the most was the latter. Perhaps my physio did not choose the most refined description of that exercise simply because his first language was not English . Could you could call it "clenching butt muscles"?

As my reader, you too must be trying it out to see whether tightening of your anus results in involuntary clenching of the butt muscles. Sig.Ot said no. I say a little bit.

Whatever it is, the pain has not gone away and dear Sig.Ot just said that he will buy me a wheelie walker. How sweet, my a**.


N.B. Regardless of the terms used, how could anyone do it for 400 times a day?

Beyond Miraculous

You could almost imagine the feeling, but you cannot quite capture that feeling unless you too have experienced it personally. As a mother who sees your baby for the first time during an ultrasound scan, the feeling is indescribable. Regardless of how indistinctive the shape of the dot, you cannot help but to feel the elation and awe of how miraculous this creation is within you.

As for me, the first encounter did not yield the reaction I have described above. I am pleased to say that once I overcame the shock and went back for appointment with ob-gy A, what I felt when I saw the twins was exactly as per paragraph above. Not many people get to experience this but to be able to see not one, but two babies growing inside you is beyond miraculous. It is a double blessing.