Warning: I just wrote this. No proof reading, and I used my tablet, so anticipate spelling errors. Use creativity when trying to figure out what I meant.
So when someone is pregnant there is an expectation if weight gain. Depending on your pre pregnancy weight the amounts vary as to what is deemed a healthy amount of weight gain. When I was pregnant with Mr. J I am confident that my pre pregnancy state was my most unhealthy (although it was the same as my pre pregnancy weight this this around, but this time I was starting with some muscle, not just fat). I wasn't by any stretch of the imagination fat, obese, or even really overweight. I just wasn't healthy either. I hadn't been able to find any form of working out that I liked at the time because I was too cheap to pay for a gym membership, and I hate all things cardio. During that first pregnancy experience i gained a lot of weight. More than the recommended amount for my starting weight. Again, it wasn't crazy unhealthy, super bad or anything, but it wasn't within the normal range either. I gained over 30 lbs, and didn't deliver 30 pounds worth of baby.
It took a long time to work back down to a regulat healthy weight. Mr. J and I did a lot of walks, we bought a house and I learned how much I love working outside in the yard and garden, and we went hiking a lot more as a family. I wasn't "fit" or strong, but I had worked enough to be healthy. When I got pregnant with Otis I already weighed less than I had the last time I got pregnant. I was healthier to start with. Then I lost about 10 pounds in my first trimester by being so sick. I don't remember how much I gained that pregnancy, but throughout it I was still able to go on walks sometimes, the occasional hike, and lots of chasing a 1year old around.
Only a few months after Otis was born I was blessed to start coaching volleyball. I have probably never been as strong before in my life. I coached 3 years, played a lot, encouraged my girls to do weight conditioning by being as involved as possible, became a better vball player than when I was in HS, did some physical therapy for my hips and got a stronger core, and started working out all my muscle groups at thr gym. I wasn't super thin, I'm just not built that way. I weighed more than in high school, but I was stronger too. More muscles felt great.
Then I finally got pregnant a 3rd time. I had about 4 weeks before I got so sick that I couldn't think of food anymore. 2 more weeks and even with my nausea medicine I wasn't always able to keep things down. I once again hated food. Even candy and treats! That was a whole new life experience for me to not want any treats at all. My favorite thing (and often only thing I could eat) to eat was apples and oranges. And at that apples were often too sweet. It was true, twice the baby was making me twice as sick!
I was put on bed rest at 12 weeks. My muscles started to deteriorate almost instantly it felt like. I didn't get weighed much in that 1st trimester, maybe once, but I don't recall losing weight this time. I figure the babies were growing fad6t enough to compensate for my lack of weight gain and liss of muscle. I stayed the same weight, even. It wasn't until I was 18 weeks that I realized this. When I changed doctors to my parinatologist and we weighed me at 18 weeks I was still at pre pregnancy weight. But the next week I had gained 2 pounds. I was finally getting over being so sick and was able to eat my mom's cooking-what I grew up with. I continued to gain more weight while at my mom's.
Then, at 24 weeks I moved into the hospital. I have virtually no muscle right now. Standing is exhausting, walking is painful. Moving myself at all is difficult. I'm the queen of my hospital room, but can only leave the room in a wheelchair or on a gurney. At my mom's house my idea of exercise was walking down 7 stairs for a meal, then back up those 7 stairs to lay down. Also, evety few days I'd play A song on the piano. It takes a lot of core strength to sit up & play piano. One song was my limit. This is how weak I am!
Well I've been in the hospital for over 3 weeks. I'm so sick of hospital food. So so so so sick of it. I eat salads pretty much twice a day because I can't stomach most of the meats cooked here. I almost always try to eat more food and end up sending most of the entree back to the kitchen. Sometimes I don't order an entree but just lots of sides: salad, rice, fruit, 2 cartons of milk, and an ice cream cup. Well, I guess the nutritionist is concerned about me. Yesterday she brought me a list of other things I can order if the menu that day doesn't sound great. Then my nurse said the nutritionist needed her to ask me how I was liking the food and if I was getting enough. Then she added a note to my chart to be weighed every week.
THANKFULLY, when they wheeled a great big scale into my room I have gained about 12 pounds in the 3+ weeks I've been here. I don't know how much extra I should be gaining for twins, but I know it's more than with a singleton. Also, I gain faster with 2 babies. 12 pounds I 3 weeks?? Holy cow. But at least for now the nutritionist and my nurses and doctors are content that even if I'm not eating very much, the babies are getting everything they need to keep growing!
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