…TWINS!

(As you can see, Miss H is super excited!)

Remember when I shared my 15-week bump (and how much more I’d “popped” this time around)? Well, apparently there was a reason – I was carrying around two babies and didn’t even know it! We’re still in a bit of shock at the news, but it’s slowly starting to feel real, especially as the babies (!!) move around more and more.

Here’s a little “Q & A” section of what we’ve been asked quite a bit since sharing our news:

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(Q): Do twins run in your family?

(A): Nope! My maternal grandmother (Miss H’s namesake!) had sisters who were twins, but other than that we don’t know of any others in the family.

(Q): Didn’t you have an early ultrasound?
(A): Yes! A very informal ultrasound at 8 weeks with our midwife, just to check in and make sure everything basically looked ok. Only one baby showed up at that time!

(Q): How did you find out the news?
(A): We went in for my 16-week appointment and my midwife noticed that I was measuring around 20 weeks. She let us know that it could be one of three reasons: either my due date was wrong, baby had a big growth spurt, or it was twins. We assumed that it must be a growth spurt! Fortunately they squeezed us in for an ultrasound (it was a Friday and we were going out of town that weekend, so it otherwise would have been a long wait). The ultrasound tech was quite excited when she saw two babies on the screen! It took a little while for our excitement to ramp up, because we felt very unprepared for this news!

(Q): Are they fraternal or identical? Do you know the genders?
(A): Based on everything the ultrasound tech said, they are fraternal. We are not 100% sure of gender; the babies were still bouncing around too much at 16 weeks for them to give us a definitive answer, so hopefully our 20 week ultrasound will confirm the genders for us.

(Q): Do you have room in your house for twins?
(A): No! I had previously shared that Miss H and the new baby were going to share a room. Well, that’s definitely not the case now that we know we’ll be bringing home two babies! And since our small city home can’t really comfortably house 3 young children, plus us, plus Mr. H’s need for a home office, we are looking to sell our home and hopefully be in a larger, suburban home before the babies are born. Talk about changes! The upside is that Miss H can stay in her crib with her own room and we won’t need to switch her to a “big girl bed” before she’s absolutely ready (and with two infants on our hands, we’ll probably wait as long as possible before we touch Miss H’s sleep routine unless she starts escaping her crib).

(Q): Are you going to keep going to your midwife practice?
(A): Unfortunately not – they will not keep seeing me because they consider twins to be high risk, so I would need to go to the OBGYN office associated with them. However, their associated hospital is a smaller hospital without a NICU. Because twins can often be born early and require a higher level of care, I have switched to a different OBGYN practice that delivers at a larger hospital nearby with a great NICU. Tough to switch in the middle of my pregnancy, especially because I love the midwives, but so far I really like my new practice.

(Q): This explains why you have been more sick this pregnancy, right?
(A): While every pregnancy is different, I did have a much tougher first trimester this time around as opposed to my first pregnancy. I was so incredibly nauseous and miserable! I have read that hormone levels with multiples are typically much higher, causing increased morning sickness. So maybe that explains a little bit about why I felt so terrible! Fortunately I’m feeling great these days (for, you know, being big and pregnant!).

I’m excited to be sharing the news here, and look forward to navigating this whole twin pregnancy and twin motherhood adventure! There’s so much to learn, research, and plan for. I thought this pregnancy would be such a breeze: with a second baby I had most of the gear I needed, knew what to expect, and could envision bringing home my sweet newborn baby. But with twins it’s definitely back to the drawing board as I learn what to expect and what I’ll need!