Showing Some Skin

I can't believe I am actually doing this, but I thought you all would get a better view of how huge my belly is if I actually exposed a little skin. I am officially 18 weeks pregnant today. According to my calculations, I am at least halfway through this pregnancy. The average twin pregnancy goes to 35 weeks. Of course, some last up to 38 weeks and some unfortunately end much earlier than 35 weeks. I am shooting for these beautiful babies to arrive sometime around Thanksgiving.

I don't know if you can see it in this picture, but I have so much blood circulating in my body right now that my blood vessels are very visible when looking at my skin - especially in my abdomen. I have read that women pregnant with twins have a 100% increase in their blood volume. That means I have twice the amount of blood in my body than I did six months ago. I primarily blame that for my weight gain. Ha. Ha.

This increase in blood volume has more of an effect on me than I expected. I have been having very frequent nose bleeds. Who knew pregnancy caused nose bleeds?? I average about three nose bleeds per day. Also, sometimes when I lay down after being on my feet, I feel as though my heart is pounding ferociously in my chest. I think it has to work a little harder than usual. This increase in blood volume is often blamed for anemia and hypertension, as well.

But, generally, I have been feeling much better during the past week to 10 days. I have significantly less nausea. HALLELUJAH! I do have more heartburn and I am so, so tired all of the time. It is becoming more and more uncomfortable to sit or lay down.

I have made a conscious effort to slow down at work a little bit. I am seeing fewer patients in a day and trying to work less than 8 hours each day. This has been a little difficult for me. I have a hard time saying "No" to squeezing in one more patient. It will all work out just fine, though.

To sum it all up, things are going very well.