Baby Series + My Twin Pregnancy Experience

My husband and I always say that we have to joke about winning the lottery so that we do. Why? Because every time we make a small joke about what MIGHT happen, it does.

When we got our first positive pregnancy test for the twins, it was EARLY. I'm talking MAYBE 3-4 weeks along. I remember being so alarmed that the test was so clear because I didn't know if that was just what a healthy pregnancy did for a test so of course I googled. I know what you're thinking. Pregnant women should stay away from google, because its the truth. With my google search I came across a few articles that stated a very clear positive really early on could mean twins. So we joked about it. And then our friends joked with us, and then our coworkers. But this whole time the joke would be followed with "But twins don't run in my family so obviously we are just kidding." Then one day I said this to my mom and was met with "Uhm, Yes they do. Your grandma AND great grandma are twins." Cue nervous laughter here. But still, really. What are the chances?

1 in 250 pregnancies are "natural" twins (Not conceived via IVF). So imagine our surprise- and I use that word lightly- when we are at our first ultrasound and hear "Oh, uhm. Its still early, but I'm pretty sure I see 2 here." People always ask how I reacted, I laughed. Uncontrollably. Which was probably really annoying to my doctor as she was still trying to ultrasound to make sure she was right.

We knew immediately that this pregnancy was going to be SO much different than we originally thought it would be. Going through a twin pregnancy changes a lot of things. You end up with way worse symptoms, the normal time line for testing and finding out genders is shifted a little further away, and there are more appointments. SO many appointments.

The symptoms: I was SO sick. And I don't just mean morning sickness sick. Which, hello, NOT just in the morning. I threw up all day to the point that in the first trimester I actually lost about 11 lbs. On top of this, I had Pregnancy Rhinitis. This is pretty much just a very long, VERY annoying 'cold' throughout your entire pregnancy. You aren't contagious, but its all of the congestion that would come with a cold. This made my life hell. I would get maybe a 2-4 day period without congestion and it would come right back. Eventually, I would have clients complaining that "there's a sick girl working" even after I explained to each and every person that I was not contagious, it was just a symptom of my pregnancy and yes, I had been to the doctor and tried medicine. 10 points to whoever can guess how much they cared, but that's a different rant, for a different day. Eventually, I would get longer periods without congestion but this did last until around 30-32 weeks unfortunately and nothing I did helped.

-To clarify, this is not just a symptom of a twin pregnancy, it is just more likely to happen because of the extra hormones that come with it.

Remember when I said that if we joked about something, it would come true. Originally we swore the twins would be B/G and it would be perfect. One and done, we would never have to get pregnant again. But something shifted and I started making jokes about what if its 2 girls. While my husband pleaded for me to shut up because 2 girls means glitter and no one hates glitter as much as this man. Well fast forward to our Gender Reveal/Baby shower and what do you know, its twin girls. It took him a few days but he was okay, as long as we keep glitter away from him. But with this, with Singleton pregnancies, the parents can find out the gender pretty early on around 12-14 weeks with a blood test. Its simple, if there is the male chromosome found, you're having a boy. Well.. The problem with doing this test with twins is, if its girls. Cool, you're having twin girls, but if it pops up as there's a boy, there is no way to know if they are both boys or if its B/G. Because we wanted to do our whole gender reveal party, we couldn't trust the blood test because it would get spoiled. I couldn't wait until our anatomy scan at 20 weeks because it was the day before the party. So, I went to a place that just does ultrasounds and had them do the scan around 18-19 weeks so I could give it to the friend hosting the party.

The appointments: I didn't realize how few appointments a singleton pregnancy got until I talked to my friend. I knew I had to go in often, but I didn't realize how much more it was. the first 3 weeks, I got seen every week. After that until about 16 weeks, I got seen every other week. From about 20 weeks until maybe 28 weeks, I was seen every three weeks. At 20 weeks started my trips up to Walter Reed to do my anatomy scan. My naïve self thought that it would be my only trip up but I was so wrong. I had to go up again for more anatomy scan the remainder of my pregnancy. But almost the second I hit 30 weeks, I was getting seen twice a week and sometimes had a third appointment the same week. There were dopplers, regular ultrasounds, NST, and more dopplers. Every week we sat and waited to see how things went and every week it changed. For almost 2 weeks, they weren't sure I would make it to 35 weeks and told us to be ready to not come home from an appointment any day now. Then the next week, everything would be find and I could make it to full term. Which, if you didn't know, most doctors don't let a women carrying twins go past 38 weeks. With seeing 2 different doctors, we had 2 different doctors communicating with each other and figuring out when would be best to pull the girls out while still giving them enough time to 'bake' but without risking my health. Eventually, it was decided I would not go past 37 weeks. And I had appointments all the way until the day.

All in all, my pregnancy was hell. I was sick and miserable the same time. I did not have the 'glow', I had sweat. Even in 30 degree weather. My hair did not grow to be thick and healthy, my skin broke out, I couldn't breathe and I had to roll off the couch that I slept on for the last 4 months. But, of course it was all worth it to have the 2 beautiful angels that we have. Just don't ask me to do it again.

XO

-B