February 26, 2014

12 Weeks!

I can't believe we're actually nearing the end of the first trimester. I'm feeling ok, a little more run-down than I have been and my appetite is insatiable. Our appointment this week with Dr. M was fantastic as well as terrifying. I have to say that I am a lot more informed and therefore a lot more freaked out about this whole identical twin thing. I will go into that in more detail later on but for now my first bump pic! I feel much more pregnant than I look!


February 12, 2014

From newlyweds to an insta-family!

On December 24, 2014 I missed a period for the first time since starting them 16 years ago. I couldn't believe it when I woke up and I was two days late. Even after being "fertility aware" for two years I was always ridiculously regular. I did the math and realized that we may have cut it a little close this time thanks to a once-in-a-blue-moon drunken night at the local bar with J and H. Unfortunately, we were leaving for Christmas Eve out west and I had no time to get or take a test so I put it out of my head and went on with the day sure I would have a little Christmas gift all to myself the next morning. Not exactly. That's how I found myself trolling the Rite Aid and grocery store parking lots looking for an open sign at 8am Christmas morning. Again, no such luck. So I spent Christmas day wondering if this would be our last one just the two of us (it made me savor our morning together that much more), thinking that next year would be full of toys and baby clothes, and then wondering if I was really ready for this. At 9am on the 26th I woke up and ran to Rite Aid.The cashier said, "You look a little nervous, I take it this is unexpected?" I said "Yup, but I'm ready so either way it's ok!" It's funny, I knew for sure at that point that I was pregnant. Really. The blue lines a few minutes later only confirmed it. C handled it like a movie star. While I had a momentary freak out (despite being "ready!" just a few minutes prior) he cried and hugged me and told me he was so happy. It was a perfect moment for us, sort of our last as just the two of us as we neared the end of the newlywed chapter and the beginning of the parenthood one.

On January 28th, 2014 we found out that our little Christmas surprise was actually double the fun/trouble/love/blessings! I was so terrified that our first ultrasound would show something was wrong, I never even thought that there could be more than one in there. I didn't have any type of gut feeling or intuition at any point although I had thought about it. It was the most amazing thing seeing a tiny baby shape appear on the screen. I was so relieved everything was going ok that even after noticing the tech was holding up her two fingers I didn't know at all what it meant. For a few seconds it looked a lot like a peace sign to me, so.. peace is what I thought. I took a deep breath and said something like, "Yes, be peaceful."

And then the tech laughed and said "No, no, there's two. Two babies."

I was shaking with excitement and nerves before and at that point I just started laughing, not at all believing her.

And then all of a sudden there were two little babies on the screen to my right. They had huge heads and tiny torsos with budding feet and arms sticking out and I couldn't believe they were actually inside me. The tech showed us Baby A, and there was a tiny fluttering right in the middle of the chest - a so perfect, so fast heartbeat. She moved on to Baby B whose heart looked like the smallest clapping hands. C asked if they were and the tech laughed and told us no, that it was another strong heartbeat. He, again, handled it like a pro. Although we were both completely knocked out in surprise he was so elated and smiling from ear to ear. I have to admit for someone who was ready and willing to forgo getting action around "that time" in order to avoid having a baby he certainly took a surprise twin pregnancy quite well!  We laughed and laughed the whole way home. It still hasn't really terrified us yet. We just figure it's twice the fun and the love as much as it's twice the work and stress.  We have an amazing support system and we know we can handle this, no matter how broke we are or how small our house is or anything. We have each other and enough love for a whole flock of babies, although we're happy with the two. We only ever wanted two so another bonus is with one pregnancy and labor we get an insta-family. How lucky are we?

xo,
M & C