First "Normal" Appointment

Our first "normal" appointment at the regular ob was yesterday. It was pretty uneventful. They give you a bunch of paperwork, talk about appointment schedules, etc. The highlights of the appointment are as follows:

(1) They send all multiples pregnancies to Duke Perinatal for more intense screening and because they have better equipment. That takes place around 11-14 weeks and then 16-18 weeks. Both of those are coming up pretty soon! It's hard to believe the pregnancy will be a fourth of the way finished next week. I feel like I've pregnant a LONG time.

(2) We have an ultrasound with them next Wednesday at 8 am. The ob coordinator wanted it to be done sometime this week, but there were no appointments. I'm going to try and call and see if something opens up for this week. I just want to be sure our twins are continuing to grow OK, especially now that the puzzle is half-way to SC by now. I still have a little fear that something might happen . . .

(3) I had to explain, again, why the date of my last period doesn't matter. It's annoying because the nurse had her little wheel and still wanted to refer to it even though I told her that she can't use those dates. There is no mistaken about when we're due, how many weeks along I am, etc. This took a tad bit of the "normal" feel out of the appointment, but whatever . . .

(4) I was surprised that there wasn't much variation in the care with a twin pregnancy. I was expecting to have to go more often, but we won't have to unless there are problems. With the exception of the Duke Perinatal visits, everything else is normal.

(5) The weight gain for a twin pregnancy is crazy: 35-45 lbs. WHOA! I think I've already made a dent in that number, though.

(6) The amount of paper I left with was INSANE! Coupons, magazines, pamphlets, etc. mostly from formula companies nonetheless. I think it's all kind of unnecessary, actually. I appreciated the prenatal vitamin samples and the paperwork from the ob practice itself, but I could've done without the other stuff. (I don't have anything against formula, but I feel like women are bombarded with formula "stuff" from the doctor. I didn't get any pamphlets on breastfeeding, and I feel like women in the US turn to formula more often because we're presented with 3x the info on formula as opposed to nursing. Anyway, that's another post . . .)

I think that about covers it!