There is that one moment that is etched in all of our minds, that moment when we found out we were having more than one baby.
Are you one of those wonderfully intuitive mothers who 'just knew' they had more than one on board? Did you have an inkling that more than one at a time might run in your family? Or did the phrase ‘multiple birth’ pop up out of the blue and totally blind side you?
Me?
I was in that last category.
You know all those people who stop you and say “oh I’ve always wanted to have twins?" Well that wasn’t me. I’d never in my wildest dreams, even contemplated for a second, that I might have twins one day. I didn’t even think it was possible for me to have twins, since there were no twins in my or my husband's family (ah, how naive I was)… I was totally, utterly, blissfully unaware about anything to do with twins.
Then I walked into my OB’s office for the first time, stripped off and hopped up onto that uncomfortable table so he could "take a quick look." He seemed to be looking and looking and moving the scanning doohickey all over my flabby belly and looking some more. I was sure when he finally spoke he would tell me there was no baby at all and that it was all in my head. Instead he said those words that will stay with me till the day I die…
“Possibly three… definitely two babies”.
WHAT???????
What? No… you’re wrong. I’m not having twins, and I am sure as heck not having triplets. There are no twins in my family… you must be wrong.
He was wrong. He had to be wrong. Even as he showed us the fuzzy things on the screen that he declared to be twin one and twin two and the other shadow that could be baby number three hiding, he was still wrong. Even as he explained that we’d have to go and have a specialist scan to determine exactly how many babies there were and how they were developing, he was still definitely wrong. Even as he told us he happened to be a multiple birth specialist and he was really really really sure we were having twins, even then, I was sure he was wrong.
A week later, after the specialist scan (which confirmed two babies, not three), as I walked away with photos marked "twin 1 and twin 2," I was still not 100% convinced. This was something that happened to someone else, not to me. I couldn’t be having twins… surely not.
I am not sure that I was completely over my denial until the day they were born. Actually, I still have moments when I look at my girls and can not believe they are mine.
Me? Twins?
Twins? Me?
No, you must be wrong.
So how did you find out? How did you react?
Kate is an Australian "Mum" who writes about life with twins plus one on her personal blog Picklebums.
(photo by Zwillinge)
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We didn't find out til I was 21 wks along. I had had such a miserable first trimester, and had lost weight, so by the day of the big u/s, I was only just back to my pre-pregnancy weight…so no indicator there…they had heard one good solid heartbeat, so that was good…I'd gotten big with two previous pregnancies, so there was nothing odd about me being big…
I went in for the u/s…first thing in the morning–it was the only one they could get me in for…0730am. Too early to get a sitter for our older dc (we had three girls at that point, ages 6,4, and 2–soon to be 7, 5, and 3)…so we were ALLLLL there, DH, dc, and me, laid on the table with my largeish belly….
The tech hears us all talking about "the" baby…and whether it is a boy/girl…what we'll name it…and then she put the probe thingee right there onto my right side…and two bright round circles popped up on the screen. I knew what they were…but honestly was hoping it was a head and a belly…really. DH was looking right at it, and was holding our then-2 yo dd so she could see "the" baby….
And the tech says "So, um, you know you're having twins, right?"…
"NooooooooOOOooooO….but we do now!"…
THen she says, well, you want to know boys/girls? And we were definitely wanting to know–two babies to shop for? Are you insane? We HAVE to know…lol..
So she plopped the probe on the opposite side of my belly, and up popped a pair of split legs…"You know what *that* is, don't you?" she asked…I said "Yes….never seen one in there before, but process of elimination…."
Turns out that the little monkey boys were laying side by side, across me..so I was getting kicked/hit in the same places. No wonder I didn't notice more activity, lol.
And the midwife heard the heartbeat, and any variation would have been negligible, and in the same area…lol…
My mom has a set of identical twin cousins…but they aren't hereditary, so I wasn't expecting twins at all (we'd joked about it with my first realllly big belly pregnancy (ironically, my smallest baby before the twins, right at 7lbs). The boys are now 20 mos old and are running all over the place, driving their sisters (and parents!) nuts keeping up with their antics. But it's all good. I cannot imagine life without both of them…one would have been great, but two is wonderful beyond words. And while the doctors *say* they are identical, they suuuure don't look alike…but I'm mom, so maybe I just see differences no one else does, lol.
I delivered 13 wks later at 34 wks (induced, followed by an emergency csec)
I found out with our 1st set at 7 weeks. I could not believe it. We had them 1 day shy of 37 weeks, which brought us to 3 little girls.
With our 2nd set, I kept telling my dr. that I "felt" that there were 2 again. He kept saying, "you just feel that way because you JUST had twins." We had an ultrasound at 7 weeks and were told that there was just 1 baby. I had a follow up ultrasound at 12 weeks due to some spotting. I knew the moment the pic popped up on the screen…I had seen that picture before. I almost fell off the table, haha. The rest is history. We had our 2nd set the exact same time as the 1st set, 36weeks 6days.
Now, we have 5 savvy little women
. Love, love, love my little girls.
I had an ultrasound at 5 weeks when I first found out I was pregnant. All they saw was one sac. My husband had his deer in the headlights look on his face the whole time. It was a shock already that he was going to be a dad.
Then they noticed I was due for my pap, so they said to come back again in two weeks. So at 7 weeks the OB said "oh your uterus is rather large for how far along you are." Then she did the ultrasound, and said "Oh…there are two." After this ultrasound, BOTH of us had that deer in the headlights look! And so began our crazy, wonderful journey.
My story is a little different. We decided to adopt and choose to adopt 2 babies. We had decided to have two children and wanted them to be close. We visited our children in the middle of December and my daughter was very sick. When we got home I was sick as a dog and couldn't shake it. I finally took a pregnancy test a couple weeks later. Surprise! I was in complete denial. I couldn't be pregnant! We now have three children born on three different days all within one year.
My eldest son was sleeping in the bedroom as I gave birth to another boy (at home) with the midwife attending. As I held our son in my arms and marveled at the wonderful birth experience I had always wanted, I felt something strange. The midwife then said "there's another one". She said I said "you've got to be kidding me" but I still can't remember saying that. Needless to say within minutes I was holding twin boys on my chest!! So it was not until the birth that we found out.
Around 7 or 8 months I felt two hiccups but when I told my husband we just laughed and chalked it up to some kind of echo effect in the amniotic fluid! But after that I sure wondered. We chose not to have an ultra sound unless there was a medical reason and I didn't want the midwives doing any unnecessary check ups. Our boys are healthy and smart. Would recommend home birth to any twin or triplet pregnancy, if they are willing to research and find knowledgeable aid.
I still can't believe that we have twins!
kathy did you have an ultrasound in your pregnancy that you had to discover the two babies in birth, when did this happen. i have heard of babies hiding. i strongly believe that i am having twins but only one baby pop up in scan