We were so excited to find out at the beginning of March that I am pregnant! I had imagined all the worst case scenarios about how we might have problems conceiving, but it appeared to be a piece of cake. As of March 11th I was six weeks along and feeling good...
Fast forward one month. I got the terrible news from back home that my dad had a stroke. Stephanie and I decided that I should fly home, but I couldn't leave until after my 10-week prenatal appointment which was Thursday morning, April 9th. Following my appointment I was heading straight to the airport. Derek had to work that day so he wasn't able to go to the appointment with me. No big deal, it was just a routine, meet-the-midwife kind of appointment.
I have been told that OB's are obsessed with due dates and that the best way to get an early ultrasound is to profess minor confusion as to when the first day of your last period was (it is this day that's used to start counting 40 weeks until the baby is full-term). I had no intention of doing this, however, because I had been tracking my cycle for months and knew precisely when the first day of my last period had been (January 28th).
I was in a bad state the morning of my appointment because I was so worried about my dad, who at this point had been hospitalized for two days. I had a suitcase with me at the appointment so I explained to my midwife what was going on at home. She felt terrible for me, and I am convinced that she ordered an impromptu ultrasound just so that I would have pictures of the baby to bring to my family as a bright spot of news amidst all of the stress (although she claimed she wanted to "confirm the due date"). So next thing I know I'm being shuffled into the ultrasound room next door...
Rhoda was the sonographer, a large grandmotherly type of woman. I'm lying on a table in a darkened room as the test gets going, looking over at the computer monitor. Here's how the conversation went.
Rhoda: "Well, there's TWO!"
Me: "Shut. Up."
Rhoda: "Let me scan for a third."
Me: "SHUT UP!!!!!!"
Rhode: "Okay, there's only two. Congratulations!"
Me: "Only two??!!! Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god", I say as my head is swimming.
Rhoda proceeds to show me how they each have their own placenta (I like to say that they each have their own "house"), and how one of them was moving up a storm and the other was fast asleep. "There's two babies, there's two babies, OMG we're having twins!!!" kept racing through my mind.
After the ultrasound finished up, I called Derek immediately. The night I found out I was pregnant I told him on the phone because he was at the space with Keith & Jeff. Now I have to again share huge news on the phone, this time that we're having two babies instead of one! The worst part was that I was leaving town so we didn't get to see each other for a week, and he couldn't see a picture of the babies until I got home (well, I took a picture with my phone but they already look like little aliens at this stage and the phone pix didn't do them any justice!).
I found it hard at first to change my nomenclature from talking about "the baby" to talking about "the babies". That is the part that has freaked my friends out in casual conversation. "OMG, you said THE BABIES!!!". In the beginning I had flashes of panic about far off things like putting two kids through college at once. Or about more short-term things like two cribs, two car seats, two high chairs, etc. Currently I am worrying about things like getting the house ready (we have a LOT to do around here!), giving birth to two babies, and breastfeeding both of them. We also did early Down Syndrome screening that requires one more blood test so we don't get the results of that until the end of May. I was very worried about the test results until I finally took things into my own hands and google'd what normal nuchal fold measurements were and found that their 12-week measurements were well within the normal range. I am no longer putting my energy towards being worried about the screening. I pretty much decide on a weekly basis about where I putting my energy, but it seems to be in shorter supply than usual these days.
Ultrasound pictures and belly pictures coming soon!!!
Fast forward one month. I got the terrible news from back home that my dad had a stroke. Stephanie and I decided that I should fly home, but I couldn't leave until after my 10-week prenatal appointment which was Thursday morning, April 9th. Following my appointment I was heading straight to the airport. Derek had to work that day so he wasn't able to go to the appointment with me. No big deal, it was just a routine, meet-the-midwife kind of appointment.
I have been told that OB's are obsessed with due dates and that the best way to get an early ultrasound is to profess minor confusion as to when the first day of your last period was (it is this day that's used to start counting 40 weeks until the baby is full-term). I had no intention of doing this, however, because I had been tracking my cycle for months and knew precisely when the first day of my last period had been (January 28th).
I was in a bad state the morning of my appointment because I was so worried about my dad, who at this point had been hospitalized for two days. I had a suitcase with me at the appointment so I explained to my midwife what was going on at home. She felt terrible for me, and I am convinced that she ordered an impromptu ultrasound just so that I would have pictures of the baby to bring to my family as a bright spot of news amidst all of the stress (although she claimed she wanted to "confirm the due date"). So next thing I know I'm being shuffled into the ultrasound room next door...
Rhoda was the sonographer, a large grandmotherly type of woman. I'm lying on a table in a darkened room as the test gets going, looking over at the computer monitor. Here's how the conversation went.
Rhoda: "Well, there's TWO!"
Me: "Shut. Up."
Rhoda: "Let me scan for a third."
Me: "SHUT UP!!!!!!"
Rhode: "Okay, there's only two. Congratulations!"
Me: "Only two??!!! Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god", I say as my head is swimming.
Rhoda proceeds to show me how they each have their own placenta (I like to say that they each have their own "house"), and how one of them was moving up a storm and the other was fast asleep. "There's two babies, there's two babies, OMG we're having twins!!!" kept racing through my mind.
After the ultrasound finished up, I called Derek immediately. The night I found out I was pregnant I told him on the phone because he was at the space with Keith & Jeff. Now I have to again share huge news on the phone, this time that we're having two babies instead of one! The worst part was that I was leaving town so we didn't get to see each other for a week, and he couldn't see a picture of the babies until I got home (well, I took a picture with my phone but they already look like little aliens at this stage and the phone pix didn't do them any justice!).
I found it hard at first to change my nomenclature from talking about "the baby" to talking about "the babies". That is the part that has freaked my friends out in casual conversation. "OMG, you said THE BABIES!!!". In the beginning I had flashes of panic about far off things like putting two kids through college at once. Or about more short-term things like two cribs, two car seats, two high chairs, etc. Currently I am worrying about things like getting the house ready (we have a LOT to do around here!), giving birth to two babies, and breastfeeding both of them. We also did early Down Syndrome screening that requires one more blood test so we don't get the results of that until the end of May. I was very worried about the test results until I finally took things into my own hands and google'd what normal nuchal fold measurements were and found that their 12-week measurements were well within the normal range. I am no longer putting my energy towards being worried about the screening. I pretty much decide on a weekly basis about where I putting my energy, but it seems to be in shorter supply than usual these days.
Ultrasound pictures and belly pictures coming soon!!!
Yay! Twins! I want to see the ultrasound. ooh - I'm the first commenter!
ReplyDeleteEXCITEMENT ! all good news ! take care of yourself !
ReplyDelete