the magical land of "viability"

Yesterday we hit 24 weeks, and this was a milestone I've been dying to reach. This is the first time the twins are actually considered viable, meaning if they were born now they have a good chance of survival with serious medical intervention. Of course, they would likely face life long challenges, and we don't want them to be born anytime remotely soon, but it's nice to know that they would stand a fighting chance. From this point forward, each week is a little victory.

At my appointment on Monday, everything checked out perfectly. It was such a relief to see our two little ones swimming around like crazy. Apparently I am very susceptible to braxton hicks contractions, and this will most likely be a recurring issue throughout the remainder of the pregnancy. The difficult thing is knowing when it's no big deal and when we should call and/or go in to get checked. At the risk of annoying my doctors, I plan to err on the side of caution.

Between the summer heat and the growing belly, I am starting to feel more tired, but overall am feeling great. Little things can be exhausting, so I'm trying to take lots of breaks throughout the day and space out my "to do's" a bit. Cooper and Stella are loving all of my couch time and are getting in plenty of cuddling before the babies come. The babies seem to love couch time as well. When I lay down, they move around like crazy, which I absolutely love! Last night, they actually woke me up with their acrobatics--it was the most I had felt them and was truly fascinating.

My belly is getting quite round...it's crazy to think that it may continue to grow for 14 more weeks! I am up about 22 pounds from my IVF weight (my IVF/infertility meds weight was more than my usual weight)--this is the first and probably the last time I will be sharing my weight gain stats.

Thanks for all of the kind words after my post this weekend. Please keep praying for these babies to stay safely inside for many more weeks!