T-W-I-N-S !

When I woke on Friday, February 11, 2011 I had no idea what was in store. Our 20 week sonogram was scheduled for 9:30am and we were excited to see the little baby who had started kicking more and more. I will give as much detail as I can in the next paragraphs, both to share our excitement and to also make sure it is all documented so I don't forget!

Here is how the conversation went upon entering the room:

Me: "We do not want to know the gender of the baby, so tell us to look away from the screen whenever you need to measure certain parts of the baby that might give it away."

Tech: "Okay, I will. I never know how well people know their way around the screen."

Me: "This is baby number three so we know our way around the screen pretty well."

Tech: "I don't have you in our system; you must have had your other children somewhere else?"

Me: "Yes, in Kansas City, so all of our appointments were there."

At this point the tech put the transducer on my stomach and said, to which I confirmed, "Third pregnancy? Two live births?"

Me: Yes

Tech: "This is twins, did you know that?"

Silence

Tech: "I'm not joking, there are two babies here, this is twins. Is this the first you are aware of this?"

Royce and I "Um--YES!"

Royce: (looking at the screen and already seeing it for himself) "Are you kidding?"

Tech: "I'm not joking, there are two babies."

At this point Royce and I were just speechless and fairly quiet. Excited, confused, speechless!

Tech: "If this is the first you are aware of it let me check to see if there are anymore."

This got a reaction!

Royce and I: "Oh my gosh, what?!? (full of laughter, this was our first exclamation of the visit!).

And 'just' two babies were found.

That 15 seconds of activity was more than I would have ever imagined. It's a blessing that the sonogram turned into a nearly 2-hour visit because it forced Royce and I to sit and absorb the information, without operating heavy machinery or even making phone calls! We just had to sit and watch in amazement as our tech measured TWO babies.

The shock of twins is really not a huge shock in the grand scheme of statistics. But the fact that we had no idea until our 20 week sonogram was the icing on the cake. As far as me and my pregnant body goes, I am bigger than I was with Chloe and Isaac when it comes to my clothing & appearance. But when it comes to weight gain for the 20 week stage I have actually gained less weight than I did with Chloe and Isaac. With previous pregnancies I have gained my weight early in the pregnancies and I thought my appearance was just going hand in hand with that, but I still felt great on the scale so I didn't feel any bigger overall.

As far as my previous doctor appointments, there was no indication of multiple babies. Hays does not routinely offer first trimester sonograms unless there is a cause for concern. I have been healthy and my morning sickness was only slightly different than it was with Isaac. Isaac's sickness lasted from weeks 8-15 and with this pregnancy it lasted from weeks 8-16, with two additional spells after that point. But no real signs of a difference. At my 10-week appointment and again at my 14-week appointment the nurse has had a difficult time finding a heartbeat. We could always hear it in the background but she really had to poke & prod to get a good enough reading for a consistent heart rate measurement. At my 18-week appointment the heartbeat was found slightly easier, but even in moving the transducer there was only one found. The babies have been tricking us all along!

So that is where the history stood. Friday showed us two completely healthy, active, and moving little babies. We were at 20 weeks and 1 day on Friday. Baby A measured 20 weeks 0 days and Baby B measured 20 weeks 2 days. And their heart rates were within 3 or 4 beats per minute of each other. In determining identical/fraternal we don't have conclusive answers. It appears there is only one placenta although at this late in the screening it could be two placenta that lay next to each other or are already fused together. Our doctor would say from the information he was given he believes there is just one. And the sonogram appeared to show one outer membrane and two inner membranes, meaning the babies are in the same outer sac but individual inner sacs. *This is my terminology--I apologize if I'm mis-using terms but this is the best way for me to describe it.* These items will be given extra attention at our next sonogram.

And the big question--genders?!? I REALLY had a hard time breaking our rule of not finding out. We were probably 45 minutes into the sonogram before I agreed to it. Knowing the identical/fraternal question would be a big part of the twin pregnancy I agreed to find out...but it was really hard! We did find out, and we are saying they are the same. But we're not revealing if they are boys or girls yet. I have to hold onto something for a while!

Isaac has not really responded. He still refers to the baby in singular terms, not plural. When I ask him to confirm he says two babies. Chloe's response when I told her there were two babies was, "Oh yay! Now I can hold one and Isaac can hold one and we don't have to share...because sharing is kinda hard sometimes...." Oh my!

I met with my doctor today to have a quick meeting about all of the information that was given on Friday. He agreed my size never measured large so he did not have any reason to offer a first trimester sonogram, although he agrees it would have been nice to know for both medical & personal reasons. So I feel good that when people ask, "Didn't you have any idea?" I can honestly say "No, and neither did my doctor!" I do feel good physically and I'm sure my belly will catch up soon enough with the babies growing more and more the rest of the pregnancy. I will have another sonogram in 4 weeks to make sure everything is still on track and we will go from there.

Here are some pictures we did catch on Friday. They were too big for one picture together so you can see three feet (all four if you look closely) in the first picture and two heads in the second.

And for the millionth time --- "TWINS!"