My first multiple moment

My daughter was 3 ½ when Steve and I found out we were expecting again. Living in our small two bedroom apartment we were worried about where all the “ baby ” stuff was going to go. But we figured we’d manage. At least for awhile the baby could sleep in a crib in our room, then move into his or her sister ’ s room until we could find a bigger place.

One of the strangest things about my pregnancy was almost instantly after I found out I was pregnant, I was “ showing ” . My uterus just popped out of nowhere! I thought it was so strange and talked to my mother about it. She assured me that in second pregnancies you “ showed ” quicker. I could understand quicker but this felt instantaneous! I was only 8 weeks along for goodness sake! So I thought for sure, my doctor had it wrong, I must be further along than we thought. I’ve heard about a woman who still had 1 or 2 periods after getting pregnant so maybe that was me. I’d wait to see when I had my ultrasound. Twins were NOT on my mind.

A few weeks later, I swear I was only about 12-13 weeks along, I felt movement!!! Yup! I was quite shocked. My sister was over and she assured me that I would NOT be feeling movement so early and surely not from the outside. If anything it would just be those little inner flutters. So I took her hand, placed it on my tummy and she felt it! I was having either a very large baby or an octopus! I was sure of it! I knew it wasn ’ t twins and I said so that day. My sister laughed and said that it actually could be twins. We both laughed it off.

After that, we told the story to Steve’s parents. Our first multiple moment occurred when we were all laughing and his father was getting all hyped up about twins. We jokingly asked him why he would wish that on us and to take it back. Now even though the word “ twins ” kept coming up, let me clarify that none of us were serious at any time. We really thought my doctor had the date wrong. I really thought I must be further along.

Well all my appointments went well for the next few weeks. My doctor seemed to have mentioned that I was carrying a little large for where I was in the pregnancy but I didn ’ t recall him saying that. Later he informed me that when he tells a woman she ’ s a little larger than she should be, he doesn ’ t repeat himself twice. Guess I somehow missed it!

So now my ultrasound was scheduled for 17 weeks. I brought Steve and my mother. Steve, by the way, has very little patience. My doctor sent me to the high risk floor for my ultrasound because with my first pregnancy, I went into labor at 6 months. We were able to stop the labor and he put me on a prescription to keep the contractions at bay. We had a few other trips to labor and delivery along the way but were always able to stop labor until my 35th week when our daughter was finally born …

So here we were, on the high risk floor. We had an 8:00am appointment but had to wait for any emergencies to go first. Well, impatient Steve went up to the front desk and complained that we had an 8:00 appointment and it was almost 9:00. He had to get to work. The very annoyed technician called us next. There was some tense silence for the first few minutes of the scan. Then she said to me in an almost somber voice that I will never forget, “ Is this your first ultrasound of this pregnancy? ” Oh my goodness!!! I was horrified! I said “ yes, why?”.

I automatically thought there was some sort of complication and I was about to find out what. I wanted to know but I didn’ t want to hear it. She smiled at me and said “ There are two babies in here! ” I couldn’t believe it! She put Steve back in his place quickly. She said “ Well, I hope you’re not in a rush any longer, this could take awhile”.

I was in such shock that tears of fear came running down my face. Steve and my mother were laughing, crying and hugging. I was just crying at that moment! As the shock started to slowly wear off, I asked a question that shocked both Steve and my mother. I wanted to know if they were connected in any way. For some reason, I couldn ’ t get past the way she asked if it was my first ultrasound. I was still waiting for the bad news. But there was no bad news to be had! There were two babies, both healthy. Baby A and Baby B as we would call them for the duration of the pregnancy. It took no time at all to confirm that Baby B was a boy! It was quite obvious.

Then I was worried again. OH NO! Are they identical! For some reason that scared the heck out of me! Two boys scared the heck out of me. It was confirmed that our Baby A was a little GIRL! I was so relieved and so happy. Twins! A boy and girl!! After that I was scheduled for monthly ultrasounds. It was a free for all in there. I took turns taking anyone who wanted to go with me. I also made them confirm at EVERY appointment that Baby A was still a girl. She was! So on February 20 th, one day before Daddy ’ s birthday (and 5 weeks early, an almost exact pregnancy as their sister) Baby A – Jocelyn was born weighing 4lbs 13oz and Baby B – Dylan was born weighing 5lbs 5oz.  Both 18 ” long.

Jordyn my oldest is now going to be 10 next month and Jocelyn & Dylan are both 6 and just graduated from Kindergarten.

Thanks for letting me share my story. It was fun reliving the moments!

Jennifer, Pelham , NH