From the moment my husband and I met, it was clear we both wanted kids down the road! We agreed that we wanted to someday have at least two kids; we just never imagined that we would start out with two at the same time! This was a complete surprise!!
A little about our journey;
We met in November 2012.
We began dating exclusively in January 2013.
We got engaged in December 2015.
We got married in September 2016.
In January 2019, we began the conversation of starting our family. In fact, he started the conversation, asking if I was ready to have kids. It is totally normal to not be ready. Even though, I have always known I wanted kids, it had never before been a question of if I was ready to get started. I had to actually think on it for about a month before I told him my answer. After thinking quite a bit, my answer was: "I am not ready, BUT I also realize that there will never be a perfect moment where I will feel like everything is in place and I'm totally prepared...SO LET'S GO FOR IT!" (I mean, things were at least stable, but it's easy to want the perfect situation... can anyone else relate?)
So in June 2019, we found out I was expecting (YAY!) Happy tears streamed down my face, and I was physically shaking, when I saw the test show two lines. It wasn't until my first 10-week appointment in July, that we discovered WE WERE PREGNANT WITH TWINS!! Going into that first doctor appointment, my mom was with me because my husband was on an extended work trip and couldn't physically join me, though he really wanted to be with me. I remember making a joke to my mom before going into that first appointment, saying "you know, if there happened to be more than one baby, today is the day we would find out, haha, wouldn't that be crazy?" - I knew there was theoretically a little chance of having twins because my grandma had twins (two of my uncles) and I'd heard twins can skip a generation. I guess it's true! The technician placed the ultrasound monitor on my tummy and said "here is a heart beat" and I was like "awwww wow that's amazing!"... and then she says, "and here is another heart beat". I FROZE. I asked "are you kidding?" and she got very serious and said "I don't kid." and AGAIN TEARS, so many happy tears just started streaming down my face in disbelief, and my mom starred at the ultrasound-screen with these two circles, with her mouth dropped wide open!
Immediately after the appointment, I called my husband; he was in another country and it was about 3:00AM his time, but he had asked me to call him after the appointment so he would know how it went. I said to him "the appointment went great! The baby is perfectly healthy and exactly where it should be...[pause]...and... the other one is too!" There was radio silence for about a second, then he says with a gasp "TWINS?????!!!" I said " YES!!" I could hear his tone, sounded like he was experiencing some happy tears too! (Very manly tears, of course!) I wish I could have seen his face; we were only having a voice phone-call. It was such a happy moment!
Specifically we learned we were expecting fraternal twins; this was determined because the babies were formed in two entirely separate placentas and sacks. I like to say they each have their own bubble!
The doctor explained to me that there are 3 different types of twins:
1. Fraternal: two babies formed from two different eggs and two different sperm. They will look similar, like siblings, but not exactly alike. They can be the same or different genders. They are simply two separate babies being formed at the same time. This scenario runs in family genetics and is most common to occur when it runs in the maternal (mother's) family.
2. Identical: two babies formed from one egg and one sperm that have split apart into two fetuses in two different sacks. They are always the same gender and will look identical.
3. Identical: two babies formed from one egg and one sperm that has split apart into two fetuses, but stay inside one sack. Just like the previous twins, they are always the same gender and will look identical. This is the most risky of the 3 types, simply because they are sharing the space and fluids, while the other two types have their own "bubbles".
While all 3 types are considered "higher risk pregnancies" than the normal singleton (one baby) pregnancy, I am so thankful and happy to report that our pregnancy has been going very smoothly overall! [Coming soon - I will blog "What Twin Pregnancy Feels Like" to share about all the fun and not so fun real feels of being pregnant with twins!]