Any day now... or so you would think.

Today marks the first day of my third trimester. Hooray! We're two-thirds of the way there, babies. (Though actually, more, since twins never go completely to full term.) This also means that this past week was my last week in the office until I return from maternity leave. Which is kind of a weird feeling. Because my doctor has said all throughout this pregnancy that I would need to plan to (in his words) "not leave the house" after the start of the third trimester, my work has allowed me to telecommute for until the babies come and I go on maternity leave. At first, I thought my doctor's advice seemed a tad extreme... but now I'm beginning to see the rationale behind it. If I had only one baby, I would be the size of someone 8 weeks farther along - which, at this point, means that I am now approaching the limit to which a pregnant body can continue to grow. Of course, you see very pregnant women about my size going about their daily business all the time... but the big difference is that at 36 weeks, one baby could be born with no problems. But since our babies are only 28 weeks, and weigh about 2 1/2 pounds each, we still have a ways to go! So while my "house arrest" orders initially seemed extreme, I am now seeing the importance of taking it easy, and minimizing stress and physical activity, just so we can keep our babies gestating as long as possible.

And actually, I feel like my doctor's advice has been validated by the fact that I seem to look very pregnant to most people nowadays. Granted, I've been getting used to being randomly stared at, smiled at, and asked "When are you due?" for a while now... but lately, it's been different. Now, what random strangers say to me are things like "You're sure ready to go!" or "Looks like any day now!" Two of my favorites occurred just this morning... at Trader Joe's, a woman pointed to my belly and said, "Wow! You're going to have a good Christmas!" and then later, a homeless guy on 14th Street commented, "That baby's going to kick its way out!" Right. To all of this, I just smile and nod - it's not worth getting into the whole explanation of "I'm due in March, but I have twins, that's why I'm really big, blah, blah, blah..." Nowadays, if people ask, I just say I'm due in January - and no, I don't know what I'm having - because no one seemed to believe it when I said I was due in March. I feel somewhat guilty lying, but it's just easier that way.

I guess all of this is to say that it's probably a good thing I will be in semi-hibernation status for the rest of my pregnancy. Good for the babies, and probably good for my sanity!