22 Weeks PG

Today marks the beginning of my now weekly visits with the nurse practitioner who runs the multiples program in my perinatologist's office. With Margaret, we now add one more to the ever-growing number of people (besides my husband) who get to see my nether regions on a semi-regular basis. Lovely. Another chip in my quickly crumbling sense of modesty.

Margaret's specialty is coaching/regulating on women carrying multiples, and the program's sole purpose is to prevent pre-term birth, the biggest & most common danger to multiples. My goals are to make it to 36 weeks with the twins and to gain at least 40 pounds so these babies will emerge fat & healthy & ready to go home with me. No NICU. No NICU. No NICU. That's my new mantra. (NICU = neonatal intensive care unit)

She plied me with all kinds of questions about my medical history and current job situation and physical work load. She didn't seem too thrilled with the fact that I'm planning on finishing my degree this semester and said several times - just in case I didn't grasp the gravity of her words the first time - that stress can induce early labor.

Yeah.

There is simply no way writing a dissertation, preparing a presentation and defending my work in front of a committee of experts in their respective fields will NOT be stressful. I am well & truly screwed in that department. But I'm trying not dwell on that fact right now.

Some interesting things I learned:

• In just 6 weeks, my uterus will be almost FULL TERM size. That means I'll be hefting myself around for another 2 months after that with a bigger than full term belly. Whaaaa!?!
  
• In 6 weeks, she also wants me to decrease to part time, that's 4 hours a day. I tried convincing her that sitting at the computer & typing all day is just as good. She was not impressed.
  
• In 10 weeks (32 week pregnant), she informed me that I'll "tolerate very little activity". I'm guessing this is when most multiples moms tend to be put on bedrest. I'm expected to stop work completely at this point and not leave the house for more than 2 hours at a time.
• At 34 weeks, they won't attempt to stop any early labor, but the babies would probably have to spend a few weeks in the NICU while their lungs & all that vital stuff continued to mature.
  
• Only at 36 weeks will the babes usually be able to go home without any NICU time.
• Delivery at 37-38 weeks is ideal, but in my experience of talking with other twin moms, this also seems rare. Whatever happens, my doc won't let me carry them past 38 weeks. If they haven't come on their own, we'll schedule a c-section to put me out of my pregnant misery. And if I'm already a bit uncomfortable now, I can only imagine how cumbersome 38 weeks will be! My doc said I'll probably be begging for a c-section by that point, but I'm hoping the babes will be the cooperative sort and decide 36 weeks is the way to go. I can always hope anyway.
  

Next week, Margaret is teaching me all about diet & what to eat. Should I tell her about my bubble tea addiction and recent sugar rampage? Hmmm, probably not...