Irrational Fears...

When we went in for our last ultrasound, we found out that we were not expecting one, but two babies. So, as irrational fear would have it, I'm mildly nervous that when we have our next ultrasound they will find not two, but three babies in there! Oh my - could you imagine?!

Thankfully, logic wins out more often than fear, and I simply remind myself how silly this thought really is!

How Did This Happen?

It's the question everyone wants to know the answer to, but no one actually uses those words.

The most common question we get is, "Do twins run in either of your families?" This one is a bit of a pain to answer since it's not a simple yes or no, but since so many people ask us here is the answer:

Genetically speaking, Joey's family has nothing to do with our having twins. Joey doesn't drop eggs, I do :) However, Joey does have cousins that are twins, so if there is a gene involved in the family he could potentially pass that down to any daughters that we have. As for my family, there are twins, but they are so far removed from me that I would not have said they run in my family. Namely, my great-grandparents were twins and both of my parents have cousins that are twins, but I don't have any grandparents, aunts, uncles or cousins who are twins.

The other common question that I know people have, but few dare to ask, is if these twins are a result of infertility treatments. This is an easy one to answer - no, we were not using any infertility treatments. One nurse was so bold she simply asked, "Are these Clomid* twins?" I suppose some would be offended by such a question, but I laughed because she was so upfront about it, whereas most people won't ask, or if they do ask the question is prefaced with, "If this is too personal you don't have to answer..." or another similar phrase.

For me, it really doesn't matter how it happened. It happened because God planned for it to happen and that's all I need to know. It seems to me that it is just human nature to look for explanations when faced with the "abnormal." We like to know the hows and whys of life, and I'm no different. I'm now just on the "abnormal" end of receiving, rather than asking the questions.





*This medication is used to treat infertility in women. It works by stimulating an increase in the amount of hormones that support the growth and release of a mature egg (ovulation). (Definition from Web MD)

Ultrasound Photos

Here are a few of our favorite pictures from our ultrasound. They are getting too big to be in the same shot, so I'm guessing the one with both heads will be the only one we'll have of them together before they are born.


Here they are!
This is a profile shot of Baby A.

This is a profile shot of Baby B.

Baby B's cute little feet!

The Ultrasound That Changed Everything

On October 1st, 2009, exactly 38 days after our last appointment, it was finally time for our first ultrasound! This is the appointment I had been looking forward to the most - we'd finally be able to see our little one! I couldn't wait to see his/her little body squirming around in there! I couldn't feel the baby yet, but I knew he/she was moving around in there just the same.

We went back into the room and I hopped up on the table, just giddy and filled with excitement to finally see this kid! As the tech was getting things ready he noticed that this was our first ultrasound and jokingly said, "So we could find twins in there, huh?!" We all laughed and he finished getting set up.

When he placed the thing on my stomach (what do they call those anyway?) both Joey and I were staring at the screen trying to figure out what we were looking at. Ultrasounds can be so funny to look at when you don't have the trained eye for them. As the tech was moving the thing around on my stomach, this silly little smirk came over him. He looked at us and asked, "How many heartbeats do you guys see?" I sheepishly responded, "Two?" and he nodded his head and smiled. I turned to Joey and grinned. All we could do was laugh and laugh and laugh. It was like being told we were pregnant all over again!

The next few days were filled with lots of "Congratulations!", "Are you serious?", "Holy Crap." and lots of uncontrollable laughter. It has been a blast to tell our family and friends and see their various reactions. Many people have asked if we're excited and the answer is YES, absolutely! I always thought having twins would be great - two babies for one pregnancy seemed like a good deal to me, not to mention that I always wanted to have kids that were close in age and it doesn't get any closer than this! I guess I never thought that it would happen to me, but so far all my pregnancy dreams and ideals are falling into place - the only thing that would make this better in my mind is if we were having a boy AND a girl! We will all know the answer to that one soon enough! I think I'm almost used to the thought that there are two in there, rather than one, but every now and then I still break into spontaneous laughter and look at Joey and say, "We're having twins!"

As for us, the past couple weeks have been a complete change in direction. Everything I thought I had planned pretty much went out the window. The change from having a singleton (name one mom you know who uses this word...) to twins meant I was no longer considered a low risk pregnancy and would need to switch care providers. I had a really hard time with this, as I was really happy where we were at, but now that it's all said and done, it doesn't seem so bad anymore :) We've also had to rethink what life and work will look like once the babies are here. I'd tell you what it will look like, but we're still working on it! The other major shift is figuring out what we'll need now that there are two. Having never been a mom before I didn't feel like I knew what I needed with one, but now that there are two, it's just that much more to not know! I'm over it though, how many new parents really know what they are doing anyway? I'm happy to join the ranks of the temporarily clueless.

Okay, I think that officially brings us up to now. Since this blog was created for you, feel free to suggest blog post topics or questions you have and I just may make a post or two out of them!

June to October

In mid-June, Joey and I found out we were expecting our first child. We were pretty excited and a perhaps a little nervous. When you see those two lines on the pregnancy test, you just know there is no going back. It marked the beginning of the end of "normal" life for us.

The first 10 weeks of pregnancy seemed like forever. I could hardly wait to go see the midwife. I couldn't possibly imagine anything bigger in life and to have to wait to have it formally acknowledged was hard. We told our close friends and family, but I didn't want to go public until I had heard the heartbeat.

That first appointment was great! The midwife placed the dop-tone on my stomach and a HUGE grin came across my face. I could have listened to that little beat for hours! Joey and I walked out of the clinic just giddy and instead of going straight back to work we stopped for some Jamba Juice and called our moms to give them an update :)

Our next appointment came at 14 weeks and truly, there wasn't anything notable about it, but I LOVED the chance to hear that heartbeat again! It was nice to be past the first trimester, though I really didn't have much to complain about, considering I never even once threw up. My clothes were starting to feel more snug and I was entering what I call the "fat" phase of pregnancy - you don't look pregnant, you just look like you ate too much cake.

Our next appointment would be our first ultrasound, for which we were very excited! Who wouldn't want to finally see their little one! The next post goes into what went down at that appointment.

For Those Who Keep Asking...

For those who've been asking and prodding me to do this for quite some time now, this blog is for you - you know who you are! I don't know how good I'll be at keeping it updated, but I'll certainly do my best to keep you coming back for more. I'm definitely a blog taker, and not much of a blog giver, so here goes...