My goodness, where do I start?? I am feeling BIG!! Looking back, two months ago I had almost a flat tummy. In two short months, it has turned into this. I'm looking almost as pregnant as I was at 41 weeks with Lilah, but I'm feeling more pregnant than I ever thought possible. The sheer weight of this belly is incredible.
I've gained 20 lbs so far (yay, finally!) for a total of 138 lbs and though I'm sure it's been distributed fairly evenly throughout my body, I feel like it's ALL in my tummy. Getting up, rolling over, bending down, sitting down, lying down, even taking a deep breath while sitting - everything I do requires adjustment to accommodate these growing boys, and man am I ever SLOW. It's often even painful if I'm not moving strategically, as an example, rolling over without first picking my belly up from one side with one hand showing it the way. If I don't, it stretches too much on both sides resulting in severe discomfort on the side cradling the babies, and a burning on the side stretching and straining from the weight. I've also started to notice that at the end of the day (particularly if it's been a busy one...and by busy, I don't really mean busy. I just mean a day of standing around or walking), I get that same burning, stinging sensation in an arc across the top of my belly just at my ribs, as if my belly is begging me to change the direction of gravity pulling on it. I'm also almost certain that I am now feeling my abdominal muscles splitting. I don't remember noticing it in my first pregnancy, or if I did, it must not have been significant. But last night, it was like I could feel the tear starting at my sternum and increasing in length downwards as the evening drew on. By the time I'd gone to put my boots on to head home from a family party around 10PM, that burning sensation reached almost my belly button and I was in so much pain I had to steel myself just to bend over slightly enough to pull the boot onto my foot. I'm definitely starting to learn that I can't push myself, especially when I'm feeling great. I always end up overdoing it and pay for it dearly the following day. I get frustrated sometimes, because it's not like I have never been this big before - and with Lilah I gained 12 more pounds than I weigh now - but my body feels like it's failing me at times. I wonder why on earth I can't handle the weight, and the pressure. But then I have to remind myself that I'd been given over 9 months to get this big with Lilah. And here I am now, 3 and a half months sooner at the same size, with a belly that weighs three times as much as it did the first time I was here, feeling three times as full in every direction. And then sometimes, when I'm feeling pretty good, I tell myself that I'm doing a wicked job growing these three boys.
On a fun side note - still no stretch marks!! I can't imagine that this will be a fun fact for the remainder of the pregnancy, but one can hope...I've seen a few internet triplet bellies now that had never gotten stretch marks, even up into the 32-35 week range. It seems like such a silly thing to hope for though, because really, I can't see myself also not having the after-belly of a triplet pregnancy. I'm pretty sure that it's an inevitability, and stretch-marks or no stretch-marks, it's not going to be a pretty sight. Though it will be something that I'll be proud of for the rest of my life. I DO sometimes get a crazy itchy tummy...which is slightly worrisome on the stretch mark front. In any case, it's all stuff that comes with the territory and as I mentioned, I'd be proud to boast those stretch marks because it means that I carried three babies in a place meant for one.
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