These past few days have been very interesting. On Thursday afternoon we found out we are having TWINS! At our 11-week visit with Dr Olson, we decided to have a screening for Down's Syndrome, which includes a blood draw and an early ultrasound, between 10-13 weeks. Down's is not likely at aLl, but we would want to know to prepare if that was even a possibility. Since I was 12 weeks, 4 days on Thursday, it was perfect timing. I told Roy he didn't need to come with me, because it would be quick and it's too early to find out the gender anyway. Was I wrong about now having him there! I laid down on the bed and the ultrasound tech barely got started when she said something like, "Looks like two babies here." WHAT?! All I could do was grin with a "deer in the headlights" look on my face, I'm sure. I asked her how she could tell so fast and she told me "18 years of experience". Okaaaay. She just said it bluntly, but I suppose people would react in all kinds of ways to that kind of news.
The twins (!) are looking great. One measured 12 weeks, 4 days, and the other measured 12 weeks, 5 days, so our timeline was right on. Their neck measurements (the reason for the ultrasound) looked normal. They'll do another measurement in a few weeks to compare. The twins each have their own placenta, so likely they are fraternal.
We'll have an ultrasound every 4 weeks now - next one at 16 weeks might be too early to determine their genders, we'll probably need to wait until I'm 20 weeks for that info.
After the ultrasound, the tech let Dr Olson know about the twins, and she made room at the end of her day to see me for a quick chat. She greeted me, "Hi there Fertile Myrtle!" Love her! She knew we were planning on just 1 more baby, so she wanted to make sure I was okay with the news. I was still stunned, but goofy happy about it. She told me to gain about 10 extra pounds, and to eat lots of meat/protein to keep my iron up. And drink lots of water.
I was at the office for close to 2 hours! Roy and the kids had gone swimming with some friends, and I was going to meet them after my appointment, since I wasn't planning on a long visit. I called my sister on my way to the car and told her about the twins. She said, "You're lying! No way!" I had to convince her, telling her exactly what the ultrasound tech said. It must have been the same tech they had - told them about their twins the same way - BLUNTLY.
I wanted to tell Roy in person, but Mom's office is very close to the doctor's office, so I called to see if she wanted to see the ultrasound pictures. She reluctantly agreed - "how much can you tell from those anyway?". Dad was picking her up that day, so he was already in the parking lot waiting for Mom. I got in the van and didn't say a word about TWO babies. I handed him the pictures of Baby A, which he said looked like David (what?!), then I showed him Baby B. He caught on that they said "Baby B? What's that?" I said, "There's two!" and Dad said, "Well, outstanding!" and chuckled. Then I showed him the pictures of the babies together.
Mom came out and I showed the pictures to her the same way - Baby A, then Baby B. She asked me why the pictures were flip-flopped, "Do they take an ultrasound from your back now too?" "Nope, there's two babies!" "WHAT?!!!" Her boss Jo came out and I showed them the pictures of both babies.
I'M STILL ROYALLY STUNNED AT THIS POINT. Roy and the kids were wondering where I was, so I headed home to change into my swimsuit, since I didn't let on about anything. I just couldn't text or call him about TWINS!!!
When I was almost to the beach, I asked Roy to come to the parking lot and help me carry stuff - I wanted to catch him alone to tell him. He was waiting for me, so I showed him the pictures. He had his sunglasses on, so I couldn't see his eyes, but his mouth was hanging open! He accused me of using my sister's ultrasound pictures of her twins! I showed him my name on the pictures - definitely our babies!! He just started smiling and chuckling, again with the deer in the headlights look on his face.
Our friend Beth and her kids were also at the beach, so I showed her the pictures of the twins together. It took her a little bit to catch on, then she couldn't believe it!! She laughed because we'll have more kids than them now!
We called Aaron and Lillian over and told them about TWO BABIES! They both took it in stride, grinning and surprised like us.
My sister and her twins came out to the beach too, mostly to see how we were taking the news. Everyone was about done swimming, so we went to grill some burgers and brats near a playground area for the kids.
We spent the evening just looking at each other with glazed looks on our faces, in shock! My sister got a big kick out of us, since she'd been through that whole experience herself. Gee, thanks!
After she left, she texted our brother Jared to be sure to call me back. He was surprised, that's for sure! I told them to be careful, as the odds for twins in our family seems to have suddenly changed. Uncle Jared was happy for us.
Roy took uploaded a pic of the TWINS!!!!!!!!!!! ultrasound pic to Facebook, and soon the whole world knew!
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