November 13, 2011
Wow! Life has been a whirlwind of emotions lately. The first week after finding out we were having twins brought so much upon us. We began to research and realized we would be needing new cars (we can't fit 3 carseats in ours), a huge increase in insurance costs, overwhelming day care costs, and not to mention the medical expenses we would likely take on with twins. We had many days where we were in an absolute panic.
After about a week of digesting all of this information, my morning sickness suddenly stopped. And I felt amazing! Now, anyone who has every experienced a miscarriage will tell you that this will cause you to panic! And that's exactly what I did! I called my doctor and left a ridiculous message about how I felt so good and how that worried me so much! Luckily, my drs office is amazing and they totally understand the emotion of pregnancy after miscarriage and told me to come right in. So, on Monday, November 7th, Joe and I headed back to the Drs office for a sneak peak. My stomache was in knots and I couldn't help but think of Baby B, our very small and concerning twin. It hit me like a TON of bricks how much I already loved BOTH of these babies! And even though they were completely unplanned and the idea of twins was overwhelming, I couldn't bare the idea of losing EITHER of them!
When I arrived at the Drs office, they told me the ultrasound tech who specialized in twins was going to be doing my ultrasound today and that I would meet with my dr after to go over the results. As soon as the ultrasound began the tech said, "Did your doctor tell you you are expecting triplets?" I immediately sat up and said, "WHAT?!?!" I think my blood pressure went through the roof. Luckily, it was a false alarm. As he began to look he said, "Here is Baby A" and measured him/her right at 7w3d with a heartrate of 156bpm. "Next up, Baby B!" He measured Baby B (our previous smaller twin) at 7w6d! Our "little" twin had passed up the other! And had a very strong heartbeat as well, also in the 150's. I was so relieved. He began to look around and began to explain that what he was looking for was to see what kind of twins we were having. He said, "Congratulations! You are having what we call monochorionic, diamniotic twins (mono/di) twins. You might know this better as identical twins." He immediately asked, "Did you do IVF?" I said, "No. We didn't take any fertility meds and these are a complete and utter shock to us." He began to explain that both of our babies would be either girls or boys. Our twins share a placenta and the biggest concern about this Twin to Twin Syndrome where one twin gets all the nutrients from the placenta, while the other does not. He explained that I am automatically considered to be a "high risk" pregnancy, as are all twin Moms. I had already researched this as I suspected they were identical based off the first ultrasound so I wasn't too concerned, as I already knew what challenges we would face. Anyways, everything looked great and our babies are thriving!
After the ultrasound, we met with our doctor and confirmed everything the tech had told us. He told me that because I was carrying mono-di twins, I would need to be monitored more close to watch for TTTS and that starting at 16 weeks we would be doing ultrasounds every 2-3 weeks to make sure BOTH twins were "sharing" from the placenta. He also said, "Let's go ahead and keep your already scheduled appointment on November 14th and make sure they are both still on track!" I have to admit, all these sneak peaks, really do wonders for my nerves! Joe and I left the office and I was on cloud 9! Our babies are thriving!!!
Anyways, we shared the news with all of our family and friends. We decided we need the support and that if anything happened we would want there support as well. I cannot tell you what a miracle I feel like these babies are! After all we have been through, to end up with spontaneous twins just amazes me! It's such miraculous gift and I'm so thankful everyday to have them. I cannot believe how big I'm getting so fast, but I will take getting fat for my babies any day of the week!!! My belly at 7w5d. No hiding these babies!
