A Belly Comparison

I had the most amazing weekend filled with the most amazing surprises, which I'm going to post about sometime soon because I want to remember it for the rest of my life! Hopefully by then my dear friend Rebecca who graciously remembered a camera and captured my surprise of a lifetime will have opened her new storefront (so exciting!) and will have time to breathe and email me the pictures.

Part of my surprise entailed my sister arriving in New York from Florida. We've been having too much fun and laughing too much and running around making my house and life ready for these babies. She insisted on snapping a picture of my pot belly yesterday so that we could send it to our dad (I think I finally have his belly beat!)

At this point (without even planning it this way) I've managed to take a belly picture every three weeks (I'm only off by one week from 7 to 11, but there wasn't much to see then, so I think it's okay!). It's amazing to see the changes and growth over the last 16 weeks. Actually, for me it was quite jarring. I've been checking out a bunch of belly shots on other twin mommy blogs and the weeks ahead of me look like the scariest. My belly seems right in line for a major (uncomfortable) growth spurt. I'm excited and terrified.

Today is my due date from our first pregnancy (a miscarriage from IVF #1) and to sit here with this belly and be able to make it through today without an overwhelming amount of sadness is unreal. I still can't believe this is my life. This journey has been intense, but I feel so fortunate and blessed. Anyway, here's my belly journey from the end of IVF #2 to 23 weeks knocked up.

{ 4 weeks }

{ 7 weeks }

{ 11 weeks }

{ 14 weeks }

{17 weeks }

{ 20 weeks }

{ 23 weeks }

My lack of a bare belly photo at 20 weeks made me realize I really need to start baring the buddha a bit more while taking these pictures. It's fun to have the bare belly ones for us at home and then to share the ones where I'm a little more covered with friends and family over email. Originally I didn't think it made a difference, but literally being able to see my abs disappear is quite shocking and I wish I could remember what my bare bump looked like at week 20. (I can't even remember what my belly looked like when this all started, so seeing my "bloated" 7 week belly - where I had already gained 7 pounds - made me laugh my ass off. I'd kill to look that "bloated" again!)

My goal is 36 weeks, so I have 90 days to go. After that, flip and flop can come out (hopefully avoiding the NICU) and celebrate Christmas with everyone.

Why does it sound so much more appealing when you say 13 weeks instead of 90 days???