Things I'm Noticing

I no longer have a face. At least, no one seems to be able to look at it. When talking to people this week at work, I've been noticing a distinct difference in that they ALL stare at my belly while they're talking to me. It's a weird feeling for me because I've never been one of THOSE girls. You know, the ones whose boobs seem to attract the eyes of men like magnets? Sure, my boobs are nice (if I do say so myself) and they match the size of my 5' 1" frame, but they don't tend to attract that kind of attention. So I can't relate this experience to anything else. It is actually kind of nice because I don't really want anyone looking at my oily, teenage train wreck of a face right now!

The other thing I've been noticing is the different reactions you get when you tell people you are having twins. The question I usually get first is whether twins run in the family. When I say "no, they don't," many people ask if I had fertility treatments (or another variation of this, "did you take drugs?") or if they were conceived "naturally." I honestly don't mind when people ask this and I always tell them we did IVF, but it is just interesting to me that people feel comfortable asking this. It is something they would never think to ask if we were having a singleton. I've even gotten this question from total strangers.

I know it is pretty obvious from the last belly pix, but the belly has definitely been getting more attention at work this week. I was just commenting to my mom today about how I look like I'm 6 months pregnant already. Not 10 minutes later, I ran into a coworker who I hadn't seen in about 2 weeks.

Me: Hey, M! How are you?

M: Good. HOW ARE YOU? I don't think I've seen you in...ummm...(stares at belly)...about 6 months?

Me: Uh, yeah, it seems like that long doesn't it?

M: I guess congratulations are in order! (stares at belly some more)

Me: Thanks! We're really excited.

M: Is this your first? (still staring at belly)

Me: Yep. Our first TWO!

M: Wow! Do twins run in your family? (staring at my belly like it's about to talk back or something)

Me: Nope!

M: That's so cool! Congratulations! (still staring at belly)

M didn't actually ask about fertility treatments. I'm sure he was wondering.

On a slight change in topic, I gave in to the peer pressure (thanks Nancy and Spicy Sister!) and ordered a home doppler. I am looking forward to its arrival (in 5-11 days) and I hope I can maintain some sort of will power and not use it obsessively or freak out if I can't find both heartbeats. It's good to have goals, right? I did get one that you can record the heartbeats in the hope that I will be able to figure out how to post an audio file here. I'm sure Apple and Banana's future grandparents, great grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins would love to hear their little hearts swooshing away. I'm not making any promises, but we'll try. And if not, maybe it will be loud enough to hear over the phone!

At my last OB appointment, the doc said that we could do as many ultrasounds as we wanted to because insurance doesn't usually hassle you about paying for these with a twin pregnancy (i.e. there is always something to be concerned about at any stage, so you can always justify taking a peek). But when I went to make my next appointment, the woman would not schedule an ultrasound for me (after putting me on hold and checking with the doctor). It didn't make any sense.

So today, I gave in and called the nurse line. I told the nurse that I was concerned about my fibroid, that it hadn't been measured in a long time and I wanted to check it out on ultrasound to make sure it wasn't going to interfere with this pregnancy. Of course she had to discuss it with the doctor before giving me an answer. Five excruciating hours later, she called back and gave me the green light. The doc told her that with a twin pregnancy, she prefers to do ultrasound every 4 weeks and even though it has been more than 4 weeks since my last one (at 8.5 weeks), it is okay to wait until my next appointment (July 28th). Given that and with the fibroid (which the doc wanted to check out too), it is a no brainer. Not sure why the scheduler I spoke with to make this next appointment had such an issue with it, but I'm sure glad I called back!

So, we are scheduled for an ultrasound along with my next OB appointment in less than two weeks! The ultrasound will take a full hour (I guess there's a lot to look at with two). Hopefully Apple and Banana will cooperate and give us a peek at the goods (if it isn't too early to tell)!