34 Weeks Pregnant With Twins

(two pictures, because I never know what to do with my hands in these!  Hugging the belly?  At my side?  Oh, I make a hopeless model).

We are at 34 weeks, friends!  It is hard to believe, because in truth, I could never really imagine being this far along with twins.  In my lack of experience, twin pregnancy just seemed so incredible and extreme and impossible, really.  It almost seemed like I would turn into a pumpkin at 30 weeks or something.  But in the end?  Being 34 weeks pregnant with twins is really just like being really pregnant with a single baby.  True, I've been idling here for a while (the last few weeks I've just sort of remained really pregnant, and I imagine I will remain here for the next few weeks too).  There are no fireworks, no magical transformations, no exponentially growing belly.  Even more so than with a singleton pregnancy, growth slows way down at the end here, and so I'm just hanging out with two little babies kicking around.  And I've actually found my groove in this, and am pretty comfortable rounding the bend of our final lap.

Blessings of this stage of pregnancy include that I have been sleeping really well, that my appetite has decreased and a normal amount of food feels sufficient, and that since I'm home, I can adjust my activity level if I'm feeling burned out (which, let's face it, is often!).  We saw the babies in an ultrasound last week (with Zosia, my midwife in training), and they are doing wonderfully.  Both nice and big for twins, and just the same size as one another.  And the sonographer predicted that they will both have full heads of hair, which made us all smile (Does anyone remember when Hugo was born?  Our first baby with hair!).  It's so wonderful to think about such concrete things about the babies.

We have been shifting things around in the house (which I'll share as soon as I've taken pictures!), and as of this weekend, I can say that were the babies to come, we would be ready.  They have a crib to sleep in, washed and folded clothing waiting for them, and two carseats ready to take them home from the hospital.  Of course even though we are ready in theory, I would still be utterly shocked for the babies to come anytime soon.  In my mind, we have a few good weeks left of this pregnancy, and we are all occupying ourselves with the Advent in our own family along with the beginning of our liturgical Advent, both of which feel so intertwined this year.

I am focusing in on mentally and emotionally preparing for this birth.  More so than with any of my other births, I am going to need to create a calm and peaceful space for these babies.  That takes breathing, prayer, and a lot of relaxation.  These next few weeks are my time to go deeper into my own birthing body and start preparing for something wonderful.