Wow, 2 months since my last post and it feels like a lifetime...so much has happened since that happy family outing to the cities. My gall stones have been fine thank goodness, but my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. She endured a mastectomy and healed and has now started her chemo treatment. So far she isn't ill, but she's only had one treatment and they say it gets worse over time. Thankfully, she'll be done by Christmas as long as there are no hold-ups.
Jeremy and I are going through the process to buy our house, my car died and I got a new one and pregnancy kicked my butt in a big way. Then, the biggest shock of all at our first ultrasound. As the lab tech squirted the cold goo on my unusually large belly she asked how far along I was. I replied with something along the lines of, according to my last cycle I'm 15 weeks, but my midwife says I'm 19 weeks. This gives her a confused look, but she couldn't possibly be as confused as I had been! The probe in her hand easily glides over my gelled tummy and soon I am looking at one of the scariest images on an ultrasound screen that I can imagine. There, in the middle of my enormous belly are TWO heads. I knew I had double ovulated and had told my husband and my mother and anyone else who would listen I was positive there were two babies in my belly. I couldn't possibly be this tired, this nauseous and this big with just one baby in there. But, with our first Doppler, after much searching, there was only one heartbeat to be heard and I was assured there was in fact only one child to be had. I was relieved really, it's not that I was hoping for twins, but I knew I had released two eggs. HA!!! I was right all along! There ARE two babies growing inside of me!
The ultrasound tech continued to roll the probe over my engorged stomach, scanning each child, labeled baby A and baby B. We watched as they faced each other and poked at and punched at one another. Fighting already...oh Lord. We could not find out the sexes of either baby, my modest children prudely kept their little legs together, keeping their much anticipated genders a surprise for now.
I still cannot comprehend that there are in fact, two, living, growing, developing babies inside of me. But there are prices to pay for two blessings, in the form of the fateful gallstones, carpal tunnel in both wrists, a good chance of bed rest and a good possibility of pre-term labor. All of this, has put me into early nesting instincts. I have been cleaning and rearranging like a mad woman, but I am limited. Too much cleaning and my back threatens to give out, my ankles swell to the size of basketballs, my hips feel like popping apart like a barbie dolls and my pelvic area feels like ripping apart. But, at the end of the day, when I'm relaxing with a book or movie, the feel of little Baby A moving around makes all the efforts to get ready for these precious bundles so worth it. Now Baby B just needs to get a move on and make his or her presence known to momma!
It is terrifying, it is exciting, it is stressful and exhilarating and it is my destiny. I didn't ask for twins, I didn't even want twins, but I am having twins and I couldn't be happier or feel any more blessed!
