Kieklak Twins {Weeks 14-18}

If you read my last post, you know that we were surprised this week to find out that we’re having twin boys!

We got to see the boys squirming around like crazy during the ultrasound, which was a lot of fun, and they were certainly not shy about letting us know that they were boys. Here’s some individual pictures of them:

Twin Information:

They are “DiDi” twins, which means that they are completely separate – the Kramp twins were also DiDi. Since we transferred two embryos, it’s most likely that they are the two that we transferred (and not that one split into two), making them fraternal twins and not identical.

Baby A is positioned lower down with Baby B stacked on top of him. Since that is the position of their placentas, that means that they’ll stay in those positions, even though they move around a lot within their spaces.

With twins, 38 weeks is full-term, so we’ll meet them mid April at the latest instead of the beginning of May. We’ve definitely both been twice as excited this past week, and knowing that we’ll get to meet them a little sooner just amps up the anticipation!

Thankfully, we’ll get to see them a lot more now, since with twins they have to measure each individual baby for growth instead of just measuring the growth of my belly.

New Symptoms:

Total weight gain at 18 weeks: 15 lbs

I have definitely started showing this month, and maternity pants are my new best friend – thanks to my sister and sister-in-law for all the maternity clothes! Also the pregnancy pillow that I got at my surprise shower is amazing – that thing is snuggle heaven.

In the last couple weeks, I’ve started to feel a little stretched and sore on my sides, especially if I do a lot of standing later in the day. I guess my muscles are just working out how to hold up so much baby, but they’ll have to figure something out because even though we’re halfway there, this is just the beginning.

About a month ago I started to get reflux, and that has continued to be pretty annoying. It’s definitely worst when I lay down to go to sleep. I’ve been struggling to fall back to sleep after I get up to go to the bathroom at night. Finding out that it’s twins hasn’t helped my sleep any, either. I’m just too excited!

I’ve also started to get hungry more frequently, especially when I wake up in the middle of the night. My doctor said that I didn’t need to worry about eating any extra. I just eat when I’m hungry and it’s been working fine so far, since both babies are measuring on track, so I’ll keep at it.

Telling our Families:

We told our families the news shortly before my post last week, and we got some great reactions!

Steve’s parents came over to our house for dinner, and noticed the extra stocking almost as soon as they walked in. There was a little disbelief, lots of hugs, and a few tears. Then Steve and his mom spent a few minutes calling other family members. I didn’t hear their exact reactions, but some of them were very loud. On Steve’s side of the family, the twins are the first grandchildren and the first great-grandchildren.

Just before Steve’s parents came over, I called my mom and sent her a picture of the stockings. I told her that it looked like she was never going to have 8 grandsons, because now she had 9! She and my dad (who I told beforehand so he could video her reaction) were naturally shocked and excited, and she has continued to randomly text me about how excited she is. She wants to retire now instead of waiting till the end of the school year.

Cara was actually the first person we called after walking out of our appointment. She & Matt are so excited for us, and she’s been very helpful in giving me advice and helping me make my registry. Having helped with their twins so much, Steve & I don’t feel overwhelmed at the prospect of having our own. They have done a great job of parenting Cherish & Liam, and while we know it won’t be easy, we’ve gotten to see close-up the joy and blessing that twins can be.

I’ll post another update after my appointment next month, so be on the lookout!

As always, you can check out our entire embryo adoption journey here!