Early July, 10 weeks pregnant. I walked into a dating ultrasound on my own with a doctor I had visited once before for my anatomy scan with our youngest. I only went because my husband would be deploying and I wanted a better idea of my due date in case he could come home.
Cold gel, whirring machine, the OB’s kind smile. A small black circle appeared on the screen with a perfect, tiny wriggling body the size of a strawberry. The sweetest little heartbeat. My baby.
Once I breathed a massive sigh of relief that the baby was growing and healthy, I chuckled.
“So just one, huh?”
I’ve never said that before. I do believe God, with His sense of humor, loves some ironic foreshadowing.
The doctor chuckled too.
And then she moved the wand a little to the left, and she stopped chuckling for a second. She moved it a bit farther.
Another black blob appeared on the screen. Another tiny strawberry baby. She wiggled the wand back and forth a couple of times to make sure, and it was pretty clear–two sacs, two babies, two placentas.
I really didn’t process much of that.
Although my brain wasn’t functioning, my mouth was, and I said twins about 40 times in various pitches (“Twins! Twins. Twwwinnnssss. TWINS?! Twins!!!! TWINS. Twins??”) and tried to literally hit some sense into my head with the palm of my hand because that always works and laughed, mostly out of shock.
Baby A and baby B. There were two of them. What. WHAT?!
I walked out of that office with a stupid smile on my face and walked into the kitchen where my husband was standing with the same stupid smile still on my face. I asked him to please step outside with me. He, too, developed a stupid smile.
“Twins?” he asked as soon as we reached the porch steps. Nodding, I showed him the ultrasound and I am quite sure that man giggled. Twins! He later told me he knew from the look on my face as soon as I walked through the door; clearly, I was happy, so it wasn’t bad news, but the shock on my face told him it was something big.
Our oldest told us he was excited about two babies but he had no idea how he would handle them. I wanted to remind him I handle him and he’s always been the insanity equivalent of four kids. Our daughter had only one thing on her mind: finally getting a sister. The wild toddler has noooo idea what’s about to hit him.
Of course, the rest of our family is overjoyed too. My parents have five kids, including identical twin boys, so they had a good laugh. My twin brothers laughed the most. His parents are thrilled that the grandkid count continues to tick upwards, and everyone we’ve told has shown such excitement.
My husband has always wanted twins and is nothing but thrilled. I don’t even think he was surprised, just straight up elated.
I always knew twins were a possibility and went in for ultrasounds with my first three kids secretly hoping to see two tiny babies on that screen. After three times going in and seeing one baby, I stopped thinking much about it, and when we found out about #4, twins never even crossed my mind. Hence the shock.
The twins are fraternal, which is the “genetic” kind. I say “genetic” in quotation marks because most of the “risk” factors have nothing to do with genetics. I say “risk” because, I don’t know, it sort of makes multiples sound like a disease or something, but that’s the word the medical world uses. Fraternal just means they come from two separate eggs separately fertilized as opposed to identical twins which are the result of one fertilized egg that splits in two. There are no fraternal twins in either of our families.
From what I gather, fraternal twins can be a result of genetics because in order to have fraternal twins, you have to release two eggs at one time which is atypical–this happening could sometimes be a genetic thing. In my case, it’s not; there are no fraternal twins in my family and any on his side of the family wouldn’t affect me, anyway. Other factors that increase the chances are being older, overweight, of color, or unusually tall, having multiple children, fertility treatments, and breastfeeding. So thank you, toddler nursling.
Without further ado, all your questions answered:
I’m 21 weeks along. Halfway there! Finally!
They’re fraternal. It has nothing to do with genetics. Twins can run through the women in families but often it’s something completely different.
They’re due early February and I don’t expect them to come early. It’s possible, of course, but by declining a “necessary” induction at 38 weeks and focusing on my nutrition I’ve got no reason to expect early babies. Although I do hope they choose their birthday before I’m an overdue whale.
Do we know the genders? No. Will we find out? I’m hoping to be surprised; my impatient husband would like to know now. We shall see who wins this battle.
Do we have names? Yes. I am not going to tell anyone regardless of how much you beg (hint, hint, little sister–I am looking at you.)
What about the Hubby’s job; will he be home? Absolutely zero certainty here. We hope so!
Yes, our farmhouse has only two bedrooms. We didn’t know about #4 when we went under contract and we certainly didn’t know about #5. Good thing I love creating floor plans because this one is a doozy.
Yes, the twinkies will be born here, at home. They are healthy and I am healthy and this is the best place for us to be.
Are we finally done?
I mean, it’s possible. We still want to adopt. Only so many kids can fit in the three row SUV we’ll no longer be able to avoid purchasing. We’ll see.
End of September, 21 weeks pregnant. I walk into my living room, alone for the week with three kids while the husband is on a work trip, and collapse on the sofa. Everything is stretching. I just want to take a nap. And then two tiny kicks and a flutter, and from the opposite side, butterflies and popcorn as the calmer of the two babies wriggles about.
It’s not what we expected, it’s not what I planned for, and if you had told me at the beginning of 2021 about the uncertainty that would come with my husband’s job as a military contractor and how we would have no idea what the time surrounding their births would hold for our family, I may have hit the brakes on the whole trying-to-have-another-baby thing just a tad…
…Which makes me even more thankful that God makes the plans and not me.
This is more than I ever dreamed about. It’s crazier. I thought life couldn’t get more much chaotic but, as is typical, I was wrong.
And I’ve never been more thankful to be wrong. I’ve never been more thankful that the plans I had for our family were turned on their head and now we live in the countryside and we’ve got two more beautiful squishy babes to fill our lives with snuggles and poop and our farmhouse will be very, very full.
Precious babies, we can’t wait to meet you. Come soon (but wait at least 16 more weeks).
We love you!