Pregnancy 1 and Pregnancy 2 - What's the Difference?

I had my "halfway" mark BIG ultrasound yesterday. CRAZY. I can't believe I'm more than 20 weeks. The ultrasound went awesome and there was a pediatric cardiology perinatologist there. That's a mouthful, huh? The babies hearts are perfect. The specialist and the ultrasound tech said that everything in my ultrasound was textbook perfect. Finally some good news :)

It's so easy to forget you're growing people when you just feel like you're getting huge. Then you have an ultrasound like that and it slaps you in the face that you're GROWING HUMAN BEINGS! And they're perfect!

But I have noticed some huge differences this time around as far and how I feel and work and clothes and food and weight, etc.

1. I am huge. There is no way around it. When I was 20 weeks with Avery, I was still in my regular clothes. This time, I have been in maternity clothes since about 12 weeks. Troy keeps joking that I am only a single family home right now but by the end I'll be a child care center...yay! This is me at 20 weeks with Avery:

And me at 20 weeks with the twins:

Big difference, huh?

2. I am SO much more concerned about my weight than I was with Avery. And I shouldn't be because this time I'm growing 2 people, not just one. With Avery, I gained a total of 31 pounds and was back in my pre-pregnancy clothes after about a month. I asked my doctor how much weight I should be shooting to gain and this is what he said: "It's always you skinny people who care about your weight. I don't want you to think about it. Eat when you want, sit when you want, do what you want. If you get OVER 200 pounds, we will have a talk." For the record, if I get over 200 pounds, I will have gained 54 pounds. So far I'm up 21. 1 pound per week thus far. It's just a SCARY amount of weight to me in total. Troy is constantly trying to get me to eat more, drink more, sit more. It's really hard. He was not this annoying with Avery.

3. Speaking of annoying, I am MUCH more irritable. My patience is SO thin. This may also be related to the fact that my "hunger timing" is really quick. As in, if I get hungry, STAY OUT OF THE WAY and feed me. I get "hangry." Hungry-angry. It was not that bad with Avery. In addition, if you know Troy, you know that he likes to give me a hard time, be a jokester, and is generally an easy going guy. I do not have patience for his little word games and teasing. I will kill you.

4. Dude. Being pregnant and having a toddler is no joke. With Avery, if I needed a nap, I took one. If I needed second breakfast or second lunch or second dinner, no big deal. I got time. I can run out and grab something. Now, it's like, my needs have to wait. Going to work is SO much easier than being home. All my coworkers and the rehab techs are so quick to help with heavy transfers or dependent showers. At home, I'm up and down off the floor, lifting her in and out of the carseat, on and off the toilet, bending down to pick up toys or other messes, moving laundry, etc. And Troy is at work, so I'm alone. Seriously. All of you moms who have multiple kids and are pregnant, you are my heroes. It is seriously hard.

5. ROUND LIGAMENT PAIN. Holy guacamole. I had NONE with Avery. Speaking of which, I had NO pain with Avery. Ever. Anyone who knew me when I was pregnant with Avery knew that it didn't slow me down, I never complained. It was just a phase to get a baby. I was like, "meh, what's the big deal? This pregnancy thing is EASY! I could do it a hundred more times." This time, the round ligament pain is absolutely CRIPPLING. And there is nothing I can do about it. My hips kill. The steps in our house SUCK. Hard. The good news is, I'm still sleeping awesome. WIN!

6. I had zero nausea with Avery. I had some food aversions, but nothing that made my stomach roll. I was lucky again. No barfing. But in my first trimester, I seriously could NOT eat, smell, or be around meat. Especially chicken. The shreddy texture of it was disgusting. And I normally LOVE fresh spinach. Yeah, right. GROSS. It just seemed mushy and smelled dirty. All I wanted in my first trimester was french fries and a double cheeseburger from McDonald's. Truth. I'm over it now. I can eat whatever and am a pretty low maintenance eater.

7. CLOTHES! With Avery, I worked full time and borrowed almost all of the clothes I wore. I wore a lot of Troy's clothes (I had to wear collared shirts to work and wore his polos) and only wore fun clothes on weekends. Maybe. Ok, just to church. Otherwise I just wore Troy's t-shirts and work out shorts. I am only working about 20-24 hours a week right now. With more down time and going out with Avery, that means I have to get dressed. I guess. So this time I have bought a LOT more clothes. I am also pregnant in Las Vegas in the summer. Which means buying more shorts and tank tops. Old Navy maternity clearance is my friend. Getting dressed is a lot more fun this time around. I bought a pair of maternity overalls. They're AWESOME. Unfortunately, I bought all the same sizes that I wore with Avery. They fit now...buuuuut give it about 6 weeks. We'll see what happens then. I just hope that I don't wind up like a beached whale, naked in my bed, wrapped in only a sheet because none of my clothes fit. Seriously, I have nightmares about it.

So far, those are the big things I've noticed. I'm sure there will be more. Talk to you all very soon :)