I'm going to hop back to my pregnancy for this one guys! Everyone knows that pregnancy is wonderful and life changing. It also takes an ENORMOUS toll on the woman's body!! When you are having twins, it can take even more.
If you've ever been pregnant than you know about the swelling that happens. All of your mucous membranes swell, (nose, vagina and the like), and you can read about this in any of your pregnancy books. Another thing that swells towards the end are your legs, especially if you are on your feet all the time. This swelling can be dangerous for you, so I suggest that you can do whatever you can to get it to go down. One thing that I tried was after I would get home from work, I would lay down on the couch and put my feet up on the back of it. It worked for a while for me, but remember what I said about twins being harder? Partway through my pregnancy, I couldn't get the swelling to go down AT ALL!!
Here's my story about my pregnancy:
Twins automatically put you into a higher risk pregnancy. I had to go to a specialist all the time to make sure that the girls were doing okay, on top of going to my regular OB. At 22 weeks I had some cramping and did a week of bed rest (you can find ways to keep entertained, just check out my post about it right here http://twinmomstories.blogspot.com/2016/01/bed-rest-doesnt-have-to-suck.html), then went back to work. I am an X-ray technologist and am on my feet all the time!! So, I went back to work for a week, then had to take another week of bed rest! It was frustrating, but I wanted to do the best that I could for my girls.
I talked with my doctor at the appointment, and they recommended that I go from full 8 hour to half (4 hours) days. She didn't want me to go into pre-term labor and have the complications be even worse, like NICU stays. So, I went back to work for 4 hours a day. All was great, but I was also using up my FMLA (here in Florida, it's an act that you apply for so that the company that you work for will hold your position for up to 12 weeks while you are out for medical reasons)!! After going to half days, my legs were STILL swelling! I tried everything (like I said) to get them to go down, and after 2 weeks I went back to my doctor to reevaluate. At this point I was 27 weeks along, and my doctor said I needed to stop working all together if I didn't want to deliver early. It was SO SCARY!! My income was a big factor for our family, and I had used all of my vacation days! What do you do?? Well, I'm a firm believer that my children came first, and we would find a way.
I'm so glad that I did what my doctor recommended because at 30 weeks I went back in for the normal stress test (you will have these through out the pregnancy) where they watch the babies heart beats as well as yours, and also can monitor for any signs of pre-term labor. The nurses come rushing in to check the machines and keep asking my how my pain is and if I was okay. I was so confused until they told me that I was having contractions every 5-7 minutes. I had to be admitted for the night, and to stop labor they gave me a magnesium drip. This drip was necessary because I have a heart problem and take medication for it, and that is a contraindication for the shot to stop labor. (Special circumstances!!) This wonderful stuff to stop my labor made me feel like I was DYING!!!! Luckily it worked, I was able to go home, but had to do flat bed rest for 6 weeks.
The moral of this story is to listen to your doctor and to follow your instincts!! You are going to be a Mommy, and God will give you the instincts on what you need to do!! You can do this!!! Keep that swelling down ladies and enjoy the ride!!!
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