15 Going on 25

Today I begin week 15 of my pregnancy. It's a strange place to be because, for most women, they are only 1/3 of the way through their experience; but for me, it's more like half. Although we want to get much farther, my doctors would be happy if I reached 30 weeks. It's kind of the minimum safe zone for multiples. So I really shouldn't have been surprised to learn that I am "progressing" much faster than the average pregnant woman... much faster. This week, I was measured for the first time. Don't get me wrong, they "measure" just about everything else each time I go in for a visit (and they were only too cheery to note that the holiday season had helped me pack on some extra pounds), but this was the first time they measured my belly. Now, I had just done a visual belly comparison with my best friend who is only four days ahead of me in this process. We felt we looked pretty much the same. My belly seemed to start a little higher, but we seemed to stick out about the same amount. Au contraire. The nurse practitioner measured and then announced, "Well, you're measuring right at 25 weeks." Really?! That's 10 full weeks ahead of my actual gestation! No wonder I've been in maternity clothing since week 10! But I have to remember that I've got three times what normal women house in their bellies. Three babies with three sacks and, well, two placentas. That's a lot to shove in your abdomen.

Aside from this little shocker, this week has been a pretty good one baby-wise. Although I overdid it a bit during the holidays and am more sore than normal, I'm beginning to feel more confident in my body's ability to get us all through this pregnancy. This seems odd considering I've been in more pain, but the pain has been what I deem "normal" pregnancy discomfort. It's not pain that signals a problem. Instead, it signals shifts in my body that tell me that it is working to accommodate this new situation. I am still aware of the risk factors involved, but am less fearful of things going horribly wrong. We even came up with what we think will be a much better work plan for me - one that will allow me full pay (not disability pay) longer and hopefully give me a break that will make the last two full months of pregnancy easier... and perhaps even allow me to avoid much bed rest. The first baby shower is already being planned and my dad is booked to fly in around week 25 to help us with the nursery. Things are looking up.

I must admit, though, that it is still strange to look down and see a growing belly. (Most of us associate that with frustration and reestablished diet plans.) But it's even more bizarre to really think about why that belly is there - that there are three human beings growing in there. It's something that I know, but it's not something that I really fully grasp. I'm getting there, though. We're only a few weeks out from knowing the sexes of the babies and I think (despite all of my feminist leanings and disdain for gender roles) that will help me to feel more attached - like this is really truly real. And I hear that once I start to feel the babies move, reality really sets in. I'm not there yet, but each I get out of the shower and look at my profile in the mirror and really see the changes in my body, it becomes a little more real.