It was TWO years ago, today, that i found out i was having twins. I can't believe how fast time flies by! Now, two years later, i have two beautiful, healthy, precious 17 month old twins and a wonderful almost 4 year old! It's the most amazing feeling. I've made it so far in the past two years. I had no idea how much my life would change after that first day i found out about my TWO babies. NO IDEA!
That day is still engraved in my mind like no other day ever. I don't even think my wedding is engraved in my mind as much as the day i found out about the twins(i mean it is...but in a different way). Paul and I were so naive back then. Plus, after your first child...you don't really think you could have twins. It definitely didn't cross our mind!
The day of our ultra sound, it was like any other day. I dropped Hannah off as school...went to pick Paul up and we headed on over to the Medical Center. Got into the office and chatted with all the ladies i've known forever. The staff at my dr's office is awesome and really funny! When i got prego with Hannah and had dr's appt's they would always make fun of Paul because i'd make him carry my purse in, so i could go to the bathroom for our monthly urine tests. At that time, we hadn't had a child yet & i was still working...so i had tons of coach purses. They would ALWAYS check out "Pauls new purse for the month" & believe me, i did give them a good show. I am, admittedly a coach purse freak...and so i'd have a new one every few appts...i had a hot pink one, a red one, tons of different black & brown ones, and many other colors. It was ALWAYS our topic of conversation at the office...coach purses and they'd always laugh at poor Paul for carrying them...esp when i had a bright pink really cute one.
Anyway, getting back to my dr's appt that day. We went in...signed in the front and of course the girl up in front(Anna) was so excited that i was pregnant again. I had just seen her the month before for my yearly appt. and I had told her we were going to start trying...and low and behold i was prego again! Anyway, we go back..i do the urine test and we sit and wait for a bit for a ultra sound room. That was the longest wait of my life. Just sitting there...talking to Paul...never thinking about more than one child. I remember telling Paul how nervous i was about having another child...how hard it was going to be for me. How was i going to do it with a 2 year old to chase around. How was i going to be able to take Hannah to MDO with an infant to lug around? I knew i wanted another baby..but it never really hits till you pee on that stick and see for sure.
Finally the nurse called me back to the ultra sound room. I've known Nancy(dr. P's nurse for years..since i was 18) and we go in and i get undressed and lay down. She comes back in and we chat for a few minutes while she takes my blood pressure and gets everything ready for dr. p and this is where i remember everything very vividly. Nancy asks Paul "SO, DO YOU WANT ONE OR TWO??" Paul and i look at each other and start laughing hysterically and say...ONE! Little did we know what was to come!
A few minutes later the dr. walks in and we chat a bit. Keep in mind again, he was my dr. when Hannah was born, and i've been going to him for what seems like forever. We started talking...and then he started talking about casual stuff as he starts the ultra sound. He told Paul he needed to bring his car in to Paul to get his wheels re-done again..and told us about how his kids were doing in school...and then everything got quiet. All i could think was..something is wrong, we had just been chatting away and he just stopped talking in the middle of our conversation. OH DEAR GOD...something is wrong. Right away he looked at both of us...smiled and said "how many did you want???" Paul said "what do you mean? We want one." He said..."Well, how about two?" I said "WHAT????" Dr. P. said "well, there's two in there...your having twins...there's one heart beat...and there's the other". I immediately started bawling like a baby...and to be quite honest it wasn't a happy or excited cry...it was a "OH SH&% WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO cry! I just looked at Paul and couldn't stop crying...and crying and crying. Yes, i know, we are blessed...but it really scared the life out of me! I was scared of having one more child...how were we going to manage with TWO more kids??? We had just bought this tiny house back in January in the hopes of tearing down and rebuilding. HOW were we going to do all that, move a couple of times, and remain sane throughout all this? The first thing out of my mouth was "we're just going to have to get a nanny, i can't do it alone with 3 kids under 3". Paul, of course, said yes, of course we'll do whatever we have to do..don't freak out. So in the midst of crying i tried to settle down so he could finish up the ultra sound. Everything looked fine...they were right on target. That was the day they named them Baby A & Baby B! That was also the day he told us that he was pretty sure they were identical. I was shocked he'd know something like that so soon. But from what he could tell...there is a membrane separating them...if it's thick they are fraternal...if it's thin, they are identical. My membrane was thin.
Growing up i always thought since twins supposedly skip a generation..that either me, my sisters or my one girl cousin Debra could be the ONE to have twins. But identical actually don't have anything to do with inheriting. The reason we thought one of us could have twins is because my dad's sisters are fraternal twins...so we kinda always thought in the back of our heads...one of us may have a set of twins.
Getting back to my story, after all that was done he said we'd have to go into his office to go over all the logistics of a twin pregnancy. So off we went to hear about the next 30 something weeks of our pregnancy. First and most importantly was the fact that he didn't take our insurance, so we'd have to pay cash for all his services. I told him at that point we weren't really worried about that...he said he'd give me a global rate and i wouldn't have to pay for each and every ultra sound..because those get really expensive. Dr. P was great about the money issue.
After we talked about that and decided we were going to stick with him...we went over the whole twin pregnancy. He said i'd pretty much have to take it easy and learn the tell tale signs of pre term labor. Then he went over the chances of TTS and the vanishing twin and all sorts of stuff. He did tell me over and over to NOT read anything off of the Internet...it would just scare me and that is not what i had needed at that time. We kinda talked about how we'd have a c-section since they were identical. He also told me to call if i had any questions and also we'd have appts. every 3 weeks at first...with an ultra sound each time and then after 24 weeks we'd go every two weeks since the babies could be delivered and live if something happened at that point. Then he asked if i had any questions. Right then and there i didn't b/c i didn't really have time for it to all sink in and THINK about what was going to happen. We were in his office for a good 20-30 minutes...and then it was time to leave and tell everyone the exciting news.
We didn't even make it down to the car but i HAD to call my sister Jennifer first. She was going to be shocked. Paul called his parents as we got down to the car too. They were all in shock, but so excited. I then recall calling my parents...my mom wasn't home for some reason. I told my dad and i remember his words like it was yesterday...he said "OH NO"! Uh, do you seriously say that to your daughter that is already crying her eyes out and scared out of her mind??? It wasn't the words i expected...but i'm sure it just came out before he could think of something nicer or more comforting to say. Everyone else was just as in shock as we were. Excited but shocked. I also remember having to call my girlfriend Jaymie. That was one of the hardest calls ever. She had been trying to have a baby for a while and just couldn't seem to get pregnant or stay pregnant. It was the call i dreaded. How do you tell one of your friends...your pregnant...but not only pregnant, your having twins. I called her as the guilt set in...i knew i had to call her either way. She was so nice and sweet about it...so happy for us. But that was very hard. Then we followed all this up with an email to our friends and families.
Paul sent out an email to all his family that day it said:
the title of the email was:
what twins looked like at 8 weeks...
Life has changed in the past two years...and i think everyday is has been a new journey and a new challenge and i love every bit of it. I have good days and bad days...depending on what kind of mood the girls are in that day OR what kind of trouble they all get into together. Hannah has taken well to the big sister thing. She loves her sisters soo much. They have good moments and bad moments...but i'm so happy i had them and didn't wait too long. I want them to be good friends..to play together...to have memories of going places together. I have dreams of slumber parties with all 3 girls and all their girlfriends...pizza and movies...telling ghost stories and talking about boys. I want to be there to see all of that. I want to be one of those mothers that can remain a parent..but also have a friendship with their children. I want to be the one they come to when they fall down and hurt themselves..when they get their first report card(with all A's of course), when they learn to read and write, when they have their first boyfriend, when they get their first kiss, when they have their first real date, when they graduate from high school and college...and maybe even graduate school, i want to be there when they get married...when they have their own children...and i could go on and on. What's really exciting to me is that i have THREE GIRLS...so that means i get to experience all these things...x's THREE! I mean how many people get that lucky? I am truly one lucky mom!
My life is great and i wouldn't change it for the world. I love having 3 children. I always wanted to have 2.5 kids...a white picket fence...1 or 2 dogs...and a wonderful loving husband. I have all that(except for the white picket fence.)! My girls & my husband are my life. We all have our moments...and there are times when i want to scream and times when i want to pee my pants from laughing so hard.
Well that's all for now...i'm exhausted and it's time for bed. Goodness...i had a 1.5 hour nap today and i'm still tired from last night. My body must be getting old...i sure can't do the things i used to do pre-baby.
Have a great week!
P.S.don't forget to check out my blog about vacations with kids on
howdoyoudoit.wordpress.com
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