20 Weeks

Well, I am officially 20 weeks. Traditionally, that means "half-way", but in my case......I haven't the foggiest idea what it really means. Hopefully just not less than 2/3 done.

So the question I get a lot is "How are the babies?" and "How are you feeling?" So without sounding like I am whiny and unhappy, I will honestly answer those questions.

How are the babies? I have no idea. It seems like the month since my last prenatal appointment and ultrasound has gone ridiculously slow. Ridiculous. They are starting to move around a lot more, but it has yet to become the three-ring circus that I am anticipating that it will be in a few weeks. But the two of them do seem to find far more uncomfortable positions to move in. Literally, on my nerves. So I will deflect a lot of this question and return to it after my appointment on Friday.

How am I feeling? Like an 85 year old lady, not like a preg-o. Who knew that carrying twins would be sooooo much harder than just one? Apparently, two babies take up more of my blood than just one baby, and so my legs get achy a lot more quickly, and I am all around more tired. And by tired, I am talking about when I am merely standing around working on something or even standing to sing in church, I get winded very quickly and feel like I really need to sit down. I rarely do because I would rather not have people think there's something wrong with me.

For the past week or so, I've felt far more like an old lady than a prego and I think that it is possibly self inflicted. Last week, I had a go around with the flu (I think it was food poisoning, but the resturant manager disagrees with me), and then the following day we went bowling. Two games, shouldn't have been that big of a deal. Then Valentine Banquet preparations and follow through. So due to all of the strain that I have inflicted upon myself in the last week, I really have spent a lot more time waddling than I anticipated. When running errands around work, I take frequent pit stops in peoples offices. Not to socialize, but because I just really need a break! Muscles have been stretching in ways that I don't remember from last time, and making walking less fun and waddling more of a "have-to". So, I would like to publicly apologize to all of the pregnant ladies that I secretly made fun of for waddling when they "weren't that big" (in my opinion). I am paying my pennance for my judgemental ways. My bad.

How big am I? Gag-normous. Okay, probably not, but I feel very large for 20 weeks. Especially when I see a 20 week picture of my friend Becky and it appears that she's still wearing normal jeans. Maybe for "fun" she's wearing maternity clothes. Hah. Fun. I'll put it in perspective for you. My darling Valentine was talking with his sister in Mnpls last week after I had told her I was huge and was trying, bless his heart, to down play my gagnormous-ness. He told Heidi, "I don't think Katie remembers this, but last year on February 20th, we took the first "belly picture" of her, and really.......she wasn't much smaller that time than she is this time. "

He means well, really he does. But....let me map this out for you, last year on February 20th I was 30 weeks pregnant. 30. Thir-ty. This year on February 20th, we will find out the genders of our children and I will be ALMOST 21 weeks. Holy Buckets. This does not look good. I will post the comparison pictures at a later time. And don't be suprised if I'm wearing a black sweater this time to mask the huge-ness.

So there you have it......a little update on the babies and myself. Please don't mistake this for anything more than it is--an honest answer to a common question. Because who really has the time for me to really spell it all out when they ask the question "How are you feeling?", so instead of an hour long, honest speech, I fall out to "Oh, fine". And we are still doing well, its just a surprise to me how vastly different it really is.