Twin Pregnancy Recap

Twin Pregnancy Recap: Weeks 27 to 32

With both of my pregnancies (Rom and Luca), I did monthly or every 6-week or...

With both of my pregnancies (Rom and Luca), I did monthly or every 6-week or so updates during my pregnancy. Since this pregnancy will be slightly shorter (with identical twin pregnancies you’re not advised to go past 37 weeks, apparently!) I want to get in some updates! This update will recap week 22 through the end of week 32 (6 weeks!) and then my next update will be my birth story, with a quick recap of the last month! 

You can check out more about this pregnancy in my first trimester recap! and then the recap of weeks 14 to 20 and 21 to 26.

weeks 27 to 32 twin pregnancy recap

Another 6 weeks has flown by, I can’t believe it! Unfortunately, the past 6 weeks have been dominated by me trying to navigate all the transitions my toddlers have been going through and I overdid it and Roma went into a major sleep regression because of it. Basically, we took away her pacifier and her sleep was never the same, but we also put her in a big girl bed (she climbed out of her crib), put her in the same room with her brother, potty trained her, AND we had to hire a new nanny. Needless to say, she was overwhelmed and I was trying to rip of a Band-Aid that wasn’t ready to be pulled off yet. So, last week, we spoke to a sleep consultant and gave her the pacifier back. The moment we gave it back, she’s been a dream baby sleeper again. Phew! I was getting 3 to 5 hours a sleep per night for weeks and I was a stressed out, hormonal mess. It was not pretty, and I feel like I was just overtired and struggling the past 6 weeks.

Thankfully, things are back to “normal” …. and they’re about to get crazy again with the twins’ arrival (it’s surreal to think that in 4 weeks, my family will be doubled!) The other major event that happened was replacing our nanny. I’m not going to get into it, but because I receive so many questions about it and it’s a major part of our journey, I’ll say this: we’ve been having issues with her for about 2 years, but I brushed everything under the carpet, because a) I hate confrontation and b) finding a new nanny is a full-time job and I didn’t want to do that to the kids. Luckily, the transition has been smooth, the kids LOVE our new nanny, and she is such a better fit for our growing family. We outgrew our previous nanny and we were trying to plug up the holes, so to speak, but it was a sinking ship. Now… time for a rejuvenated nanny ready to tackle 4 under 4, haha!

So the last few weeks have definitely flown by, especially because for one week we went to the beach with the family (which was so nice because we had so much help with the kids, I actually got to do a bit of relaxing.) Once I hit 31 weeks, I just stopped exercising. It became too much for me, to the point where if I did exercise, it would completely wipe me out for the day and frankly, it didn’t feel good anymore – it felt like I was over-extending (even basic movements.) I think my body got to a point where it is just in full baby-making-survival mode and that’s all it has capacity for. I definitely miss the adrenaline rush of exercise, but I know that right now my sole focus is growing these babies and taking care of my toddlers. And let’s be honest… running after toddlers is exercise enough!

Twin Pregnancy Recap

Preparing for the babies

As for the nursery, it’s 100% complete and the hospital bag is packed! For a list of what I’m packing in my hospital bag, check out this post on Instagram.

All of this prep being done early has been such a relief and I’m so happy to have it done, since I feel like putting sunscreen on my kids feels like a Herculean task at this point. Also, I feel like I can focus on spending my time with my kids, resting, and just kind of preparing the house in general. I need to do a lot of organizing and rearranging. We’re also setting up a little changing station in our living room, so we don’t have to break our backs changing the babies on the couch or worse, running up and down the stairs to grab things. Once that’s all set up, I’ll be sure to share.

The nursery is so sweet, and I’ll be sharing a reveal next week! We went with a safari/neutral/sage theme, and it’s so sweet. We have our name signs in the closet and we cannot wait to put them up once the twins arrive (we’re keeping the names a secret, so we have them tucked away so our nanny/other visitors don’t see them in advance!) All the clothes are cleaned and put away, diapers and wipes are stocked, and we’re ready for our little guys to arrive. Well, logistically, not mentally (I need a few more weeks!)

Now, the only part of the puzzle that I’m really trying to figure out is the BIRTH. Will it be an induction? Will my water naturally break and I’ll be able to have a vaginal birth? Will it be a scheduled C-section? Will it be at 36 weeks? 37 weeks? My doctor says we won’t know for a few more weeks as we continue to monitor the babies. Right now, I’m just praying they stay in until the 35/36 week mark to reduce the likelihood of extended NICU time!

Twin Pregnancy Recap

32 weeks with Roma (left) vs. 32 weeks with the twins (right)

Body changes

I am actually surprised that I haven’t gained MORE weight this pregnancy. With Roma, I gained almost 50 pounds, and I was exercising 3 to 5 days a week! I think I’ll end up gaining about 45 to 50 pounds with this pregnancy (and I only know this because of the scale check-ins at the doctor.) With this pregnancy, I think that I’ve just been trying to be there for my kids so much, I have been running around a lot and while I’m conscious about eating as much as possible (lots of protein snacks!), I think I just am not eating as much as I think I am. Plus, I’m starting to get super full quickly (the other day I didn’t finish my sandwich and I couldn’t believe it – I’ve never NOT finished a sandwich!) The heartburn hasn’t come back since earlier in my pregnancy, but a feeling of fullness is there.

My goal was to gain 50 to 56 pounds, following some guidelines set by doctors to birth full-term twins! Thankfully, I’m in the healthy window (the window set for my BMI was 40 to 56 pounds.) It seems to be working, because the babies are growing strong (80% percentile for weight as twins so far!)

Despite not gaining as much weight as I had first anticipated, my body is stretching. For the first time in a pregnancy, I got my first set of stretch marks. My skin was just really itchy and it was starting to actually hurt (like it felt like something was cutting me, almost) and I put my cell phone in selfie mode and looked under my belly and I saw stretch marks! They were super faint, almost indiscernible (at first I thought they were just indentations from my pants), just under my belly. Since then, they’ve grown and there are a few ones above my belly too. Now, I always told myself that it was inevitable that I’d get stretch marks in this twin pregnancy – how could I not!? Not only are these twins but this is my THIRD pregnancy, so my belly is going to get larger than it even would with a first pregnancy.

Still, despite mentally preparing myself, I thought I’d be more devastated, but I was so shocked when I saw them and wasn’t. I wasn’t phased at all! I don’t know if that’s because of all the pregnancy stretch mark positivity and acceptance that we see on Instagram these days (thanks to accounts like this) but I was just kind of like, “Okay, here we are.” I was telling a girlfriend on a walk the other day that I asked myself, “Would you rather have 4 beautiful children and some stretch marks OR no children and a flat, stretch mark-less tummy, because those are your options?” That put it into such perspective. I showed Lu and he was super sweet and made me laugh about them. More to come on this!

Twin Pregnancy Recap

Week-by-Week Updates

  • Week 27: If I sat for too long, I’d start to get uncomfortable – there’s a lot of maneuvering around to feel comfortable. The weight of my belly on my hips was starting to build up.
  • Week 28: Despite no changes in my deoderant or under-arm care, I started getting serious chafing and rashes under my arms. I’m attributing this to hormonal changes and extra sweating due to the heat! Also, the 3pm exhaustion creeped back in, reminiscent from the first trimester.
  • Week 29: I had a little thyroid issue scare and had to get my blood levels tested twice, but it turned out to be nothing! Apparently, changes in thyroid levels are very common in twin pregnancies. Babies are head down.
  • Week 30: I noticed my first set of stretch marks! I wrote about this above, but immediately applied stretch marking minimizing cream (apparently the only way to minimize stretch marks is to start treating them immediately when they show.) Linked to the cream below in ‘maternity favorites.’
  • Week 31: My nipples started getting a bit darker and larger. Sleeping is difficult, because I’m shifting my belly a lot and peeing a lot (at least every hour, it feels like!) As for the baby kicks, they’re much more noticeable as Baby A and B! I’ll get kicks on my left and right sides very clearly, it’s very cool. Babies are still head down. Hospital bag was packed by the end of this week!
  • Week 32: Weekly appointments started! My belly is so itchy from all the stretching and feels tender at some parts. Got my TDAP vaccine. One day I had some Twin Pregnancy Recaping lights and light headedness, but after laying down for 30 minutes, I felt a lot better and it went away. Clearly the lesson here is to relax as much as possible and not overdo it! The Braxton Hicks were also ramping up this week! Babies were still head down.

Maternity Favorites

  • These biker shorts! I wear them almost every day, they feel so supportive around my tummy and they’re long enough to cover the booty and thighs. I love wearing them with an oversized tee or tank and sneakers or my Birks.
  • Stretch mark minimizing cream. The moment I found those stretch marks, I started applying this cream before my regular stretch mark prevention cream!
  • Stocked up on nursing bras and love these to wear when at home, they’re so comfortable.
  • These nursing tanks are my favorite, and I packed one in my hospital bag for my going home outfit – a nursing tank and maternity sweats (ones that aren’t tight, in the likely case that I have a c-section.)

I hope you liked this little recap, and as always, thank you for the kindness as I share my personal journeys with you all! 

 

with love, Ali

leave a comment

comments

  • I'm enjoying reading your twin pregnancy story. I'm an identical twin, and wonder if it's more fun to be a twin rather than the parent of one. I'm in my 50s. My twin and I were full term. They even had to break the bag of waters at the 9 month mark to get things going. My twin was breach and it took 19 minutes after I was born for the very nervous doctor to get her out, but all was fine. She was 7 pounds and I was a half pound smaller. We are very close and also to our sister who's a year and a half older. Glad you have modern technology in case it's needed. Best wishes on the birth and expanded family adventure!
  • My grandaughter is 27 wks pregnant with identical twin boys she's doing really good, she also looks great.