"Well, let's see if there's two in there....hahahaha....oh wait, there is"

Our 8 week appointment arrived and we were excited to see our baby. Nick was really looking forward to hearing a heart beat and I just wanted to see a baby in there that was moving and growing because it still didn't seem real to me. I will say this, I had read on the internet that "morning sickness" can occur around 6 weeks. Which it did. It was nothing severe...YET. Just uncomfortable. I remember I called my OB office to get a prescription for zofran. I love Zofran. I should name one of these babies zofran. So I felt sick, but not pregnant. It's complicated.

The doctor that day talked to us for a few minutes-encouraged us to find a good resource on the internet that we could refer to for general questions, asked about my symptoms, I asked some questions I had written down, and then he said "Well, go ahead and lay on back and we'll see if there's two in there! You'd be surprised how many first time parents want twins because they have no idea what they're getting into." We laughed and I told him I wouldn't mind having twins, but I was mostly just hoping to find a growing baby in there cause I had miscarried in October. He was moving the ultrasound probe all around and up and down and he said "huh." Although that's not really something you expect your doctor to say when he is doing an ultrasound, I didn't feel a sense of panic or anything. There was just still that slight worry that maybe there wasn't anything in there. So I'm trying to figure out what is on the screen (which is impossible) and he says "Well do you want the bad news or the good news first?" Again, I didn't feel panicked I just told him I'd hear both anyway so just come out with it and he said "There's two in there" and this is what he showed us:

Well, I didn't see that coming. Yet I wasn't completely surprised either. I've always felt I would have twins someday. Nick and I had played a mean joke on his family the April Fool's before where we brought two baby blessing outfits to pretend we were announcing we were pregnant with twins. It was mean, and they all said we jinxed ourselves, which I was fine with. :) It also took away a little of the excitement that we were actually having twins because they didn't know whether to believe us or not! So after we processed for a few minutes Nick asked what the other news was (we weren't sure whether the doctor considered this good or bad news) and he said "it was both." After he had told us there were "two in there" he was talking about blah, blah, blah...I wasn't really paying super close attention because I was just trying to grasp the idea that not only am I really pregnant, but there are two in there!! Anyway, I had caught him saying something about their "membranes" not being separate, so to me twins is good news and I was afraid the bad news was that they were conjoined and I was going to have freak babies and how was I going to love them, and how was that going to change our life? (I know that sounds awful of me, but come on, that would be a hard life!) And wasn't it a little too early for them to stay conjoined? They were only 8 weeks old! But the doctor reassured me there were two separate bodies in there and that most likely they were identical. Which dashed by hopes for boy/girl twins a little bit, but I still held on to some hope.

We were so excited and all our family knew that we were having our ultrasound that day so we went around showing everybody the picture and seeing if they could tell they were twins by just looking at it.

Here are some fun facts related to this pregnancy:

• Right around the same time I got my positive pregnancy test, my brother Rick and SIL Jennifer announced that they were expecting-and she was about 4 weeks. It was a little sad not to announce first, but I wanted to wait until around 12 weeks to tell my family and that was around Christmas time when we could all be together at once.
• I feel like I made this happen with my mind power. On many days I would happen to look at the clock at 12:34 or 1-2-3-4 so I would make a wish. At first my wish was that I would have a baby or be pregnant within a year. After my miscarriage it became that I would have bab(ies). Then the sweet whisperings of the spirit warned "Be careful what you wish for" in a very lighthearted way and I quickly changed my wish to "or whatever you think is best." Then, before my positive pregnancy test, when I had a feeling I might be pregnant I thought about that little egg and with my mind power I willed it to divide. Now I'm having identical twins! I should have been more specific on wanting a boy and a girl I guess.....
• We told Nick's family by writing "we're pregnant" in icing on a cake. We did it ourselves and it was the UGLIEST thing ever. I am literally laughing out loud right now at the memory. I wish we had a picture. The words just melted all together and it was so hard to tell what it said. We asked his mom to cut it because of course we wanted her to "know first" out of the family. She was busy though so we was just going to cut right into it without reading it so we asked her what it said. Of course she couldn't tell so Nick's brother Cam read it and figured it out and all the family heard the commotion from the other room. It was funny.
• We told my family with a picture. My mom had asked for a couple picture from each of us to display in her home. We bought a double frame and put a picture of me and Nick in one spot and a picture of the positive pregnancy test in the other. It was hard not to want to give my present first, but I was patient. Rick and Jennifer gave their gifts and announced, again, that they were expecting. It was kind of awkwardly funny because the only ones in the room that didn't know yet was my sister Erica and her husband Joseph so we were all fairly quiet considering the news they just announced and more watching Erica and Joseph for their reactions. It was funny to watch because they started clapping and cheering, yet, they were confused by everyone else's reaction so they were like "what's going on? Are we not excited?" We all just laughed because of course we were excited, but we already knew! Anyway...So when it became our turn to hand out our gifts I purposefully waited and gave my mom her present last so more people would be aware of what was going on. She started crying and jumping around and it took everybody by surprise! Next was by brother Blake and his wife Stephanie so we all looked at them expectantly wondering if they were going to announce that they were pregnant too. But they had no announcement that day.
• Four weeks later Blake and Stephanie did announce they were pregnant! They thought they were at Christmas, but didn't have a positive test yet. So come to find out all of us are due within 1-2 weeks of each other!
• As soon as I found out I was having twins I immediately emailed to join a group called Utah Valley Moms of Multiples (UVMoMs). They are so funny and such a great resource!!!

To copy one of those MoM's blog posts with her pregnancy stats, here are some of mine so far:

• # of pounds I've gained: 27ish. Not bad considering I'm 25 weeks along. But these babies have 2 months to gain four more pounds each so I know I'll gain a ton here pretty quick. Hopefully it will all be their weight and not mine ;)
• How far along I was when I finally felt movement: 23 weeks (I think). My placenta was toward the front which hindered the feeling of them moving inside me. Now they kick fairly regularly and, thankfully for now, it's not too hard, but it does make me feel like I've got some serious stomach issues going on. Speaking of stomach issues...
• Number of times I've thrown up: too many. I seriously never even thought of counting, but if I did it would be ridiculous. There were days I would just lay in bed and throw up every 30-45 min for a couple hours. Awful. Last time I threw up: 4 days ago. Ya, it's not going away. I know I'll be doing this the whole time, but at least it's not as frequently as before.
• Number of times I've gotten heart burn: daily since about 18 weeks. You do the math ;)
• Number of times I've changed my clothes because I smell like pee: too many to mention. Even now I have poor bladder control and it just comes out with the retching. So fun.
• Cravings: none really. Since I was so sick I just ate what sounded appetizing and wouldn't taste gross coming up again if I did throw it up. I've eaten lots of toast and cereal. Toast is my food BFF. Milk was a go-to food as well for a little while until it started feeling like it was curdling in my stomach. Soy milk is better for me now. 

Well, in case you didn't notice I haven't mentioned what the babies' gender is yet. No, we are not those crazies who wait until they're born to find out. I am way too much of a planner to do that. So until next time, I'll just have to keep you guessing!

See those little babies in there! 12 week Ultasound