Wow, how life has changed since we found out we were pregnant with twins. We've had multiple ultrasounds to follow the growth and development of the boys; our insurance through the Navy expired and we switched to Medicaid until Matt is able to include us on insurance through work; Matt started a new job with a government contracted company, hoping to get his foot in the door to a federal job to finish out his time in so he can receive his pension later. We are in the process of trying to find a different living arrangement, since my mom's house is already full to the brim, and adding two more babies to the mix just complicates things further.
As for the actual pregnancy, by my original due date of April 14, I'm 38 weeks pregnant, but my due date was changed by my original doctor at the midwife office to April 22, since the babies were consistently measuring about a week behind my dates. Since my OB appointment a week and a half ago, I've been dilated two centimeters and both boys are head down. Our ultrasound two days ago showed Caleb to be weighing around 5 lbs 9 oz and Christian to be weighing around 5 lbs 4 oz. I'm so stoked that they're both over 5 lbs, because at our last ultrasound a month ago they were both right at 4 lbs each.
In regards to delivery, I am planning on a vaginal delivery of both babies unless an emergency arises. I do plan on having an epidural in the event that the doc needs to help reposition Christian (baby B) after Caleb (baby A) is delivered. He's informed me (as I've heard from others) that this process is NOT comfortable and an epidural would be ideal. As well, it would be good to have the epidural in place in case for some reason an emergency cesarean becomes necessary. Considering my adjusted due date of the 22nd, I would be 38 weeks pregnant (full term for twins) on Easter Sunday (April 8th), thus, my OB has suggested that we induce on Tuesday, April 10, if nothing has happened by then. That way, no matter what due date we go by, I'd be at least 38 weeks along.
How have I been doing? Well, ask any pregnant lady who's near the end of her pregnancy and she'll tell you there's a point where you just say, "I'm done." I'm past that point. Overall, I've had a wonderfully smooth and healthy pregnancy, especially considering I'm having twins, but I'm at that point where I'm READY to have these boys and meet them face to face. I've been incredibly blessed to have avoided edema (swelling) most of this pregnancy, but it recently decided to move into my lower legs, feet and hands (though my hands have been swollen in the mornings for a while). I feel like my whole pelvis is bruised, so it hurts to walk. My lower back pain has worsened and I get bouts of moderate cramping in my lower abdomen. I still get Braxton-Hicks contractions, and some quite long and strong, but nothing that's regular. Physically, I'm done. I'm so ready to have these boys and get back to being able to move like a normal person. Emotionally? I'm still so shocked that we're having twins and that I'm going to be a mom of FOUR children. And not only FOUR children, but TWO of those boys! I always thought I'd be blessed to have even ONE boy, but two NEVER entered my mind. God has definitely surprised us!
I have to say...it has been a lesson in faith to witness and experience this blessing God's bestowed upon us. God has shared with us the miracle of His good and perfect timing by giving us these children when Matt was without a job for so long, while we've been living with my mom and adjusting to civilian life. He has shared with us His amazing creativity giving us not only two babies, but two boys with this pregnancy. He is sharing with us a huge responsibility by giving us TWO MORE children to care for, expressing to us how much He expects us to rely on Him in raising these children. He has shared with us His unbelievable provision by providing us everything we need in this time when we have needed quite a bit. He has provided us a place to live, food to eat, transportation, the love of family and friends, financial assistance, emotional healing, and through all this, an opportunity for Matt and me to grow in our relationship. I have grown so much in my Christian life lately as well. I am still struggling with many areas of my life, but going through all the changes that have occurred lately and seeing God's hand working so meticulously in my life ALL the time, I am immensely baffled by His works. God has continuously provided for us not only through the many things He's given us, but MANY times through the things He's taken away from us. I'll spare you the detail, but even when something we thought we needed was no longer there, God was using its absence to provide something else for us. It is complicated, but trust me in this...God knows what He is doing and we are dumb to think that we have ANY inkling of what is best for us.
Showing posts with label twins. Show all posts
Showing posts with label twins. Show all posts
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Friday, November 25, 2011
Seeing Double: Our Unforgettable Trip to the Midwife
So, there I was, lying on my back in the dark little room, warm gel on my naked tummy, the ultrasound wand skimming across my pale skin. Matt had run out to the car to grab a disc we'd forgotten so the sonogram tech could record some of the images she catches on the disc for us to take home. She runs the wand in a quick swipe across my belly before placing it back in it's holder on the machine. Standing up she says she needs to check something on her computer. In that quick swipe, I thought I saw something odd, but didn't think more of it assuming the oddity was caused by the way the imaged blurred across the screen. It'd only been a few minutes since Matt left the room and we'd barely begun the half-hour ultrasound to check on baby's growth. At 19 weeks, this was our first ultrasound of this pregnancy--different from our first two pregnancies during which we got ultrasounds between eight and ten weeks along.
Matt reentered the room and our technician told him he'd better sit down. I thought that strange until she followed up with, "it may take us a while to get through all of this". He handed her the disc and cleared my stuff off a chair by the bed. Just as the technician was about to put the wand back on my belly, she held up two fingers. My eyes grew big. Matt said, "What?" I echoed Matt, "Wait, what? What?!" He put his head in his hand saying he was going to faint--he'd previously said if it was a girl he'd faint. "You faint? I'm going to faint!" It seems that my initial glimpse was true. I thought I'd seen two spines. "Yeah," said the technician, "there's two babies in there and I believe they're both boys!" Matt looked up from his hand and with a deep, disturbed-sounding voice said, "What?" Pause. "Two?" Matt had misinterpreted the technician's signal to mean "V" for, well...a girl. It was funny for me to catch on, begin to freak out, and then see Matt's reaction when he caught on to the fact that she was telling us that we have TWO babies, not just one.
In the days, no weeks, leading up to our appointment, I grew more and more nervous. I had NO clue what we were going to find out and I had no clue if we were having a boy or girl. I kept thinking that we were going to find out something wasn't right with the baby, like that it was missing a leg or something. As we sat waiting to be called back that afternoon, I was incredibly nervous, as prepared as possible for the unknown. Or so I thought.
The technician had stepped over to her computer to buy some time until Matt returned because she didn't want to continue until we both were aware of the surprise. As the news kept repeating in my head, I kept saying, "What? No way! What?" And yes, I confess, a number of "holy crap"s found their way into my speech that day, but mostly, "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!" Over and over, "Oh my gosh!" The wand danced about my belly, now pushing the cooling gel all about. Our eyes glued to the screen, we were now anxious to see the proof of the latter part of her announcement. Boys?! As the gray tone images became clear upon each little baby's "area", the truth of it all was black and white. There indeed ARE two babies and they ARE indeed both boys! Stunned doesn't even begin to explain what we felt. My choice word is "floored". By now, my whole body was shaking uncontrollably, not violently, just noticeably. "I'm shaking! Oh my gosh! Twins?!" The technician said that was my adrenaline working. No kidding?! The shaking continued, then I began to laugh. I couldn't look at Matt without laughing, so I tried not to look at him throughout the rest of the ultrasound. It was difficult.
Our periodic looks were like no other look we'd given each other before. He and I had never been shocked like this before. We were seriously floored. From a moment after the real news hit Matt to the end of the ultrasound, he'd held my hand. I'm so grateful for that. It helped me feel a little more tied to someone, connected. The stunning news had confirmed a reason for my nerves and lifted me to a place beyond explanation. Having his hand in mine was a type of anchor, something I could hold onto in the midst of the chaos that I was feeling.
We finished up the ultrasound, thanked the technician, and headed for the lobby with our little roll of photos and disc of images in hand. Sitting on the sofa in the waiting room before my midwife appointment, Matt and I just laughed, stared at each other and shared our shock. We left there feeling so floored, so thrown off, so completely caught off guard, it was like no other time we'd experienced.
Telling our families was unreal in its own sort of way, too. They all reacted with a similar sort of shock as we did, screams, stares of disbelief, and lots of, "What?"s. So now, here we are, midway through our third pregnancy, preparing for TWIN BOYS of all things! We've picked out names: Caleb Donald (Donald after my dad), and Christian Matthew (after Matt). Caleb and Christian. Our boys. Our boys. Our precious baby boys. Yup, I'm still working on getting used to it. I can now imagine two little baby boys in car seats in the back of the van, but it is still so hard to believe that I've got two little boys sharing a space in my belly. Matt's not even to the imagining part yet. I don't expect him to be until delivery day. Our wonderful technician that day said they appear to be identical twins, too, so we're curious as to how deep the "identical" part will show through when we finally get to meet them face-to-face. This might add a whole new dimension to our new challenge of being parents of not only two girls, but also twin boys. We are SO excited though, and cannot wait to do whatever we can to bring these boys as close to full-term as possible and deliver healthy babies into this world. We are also scared yet flattered that God would entrust us with the responsibility of caring for two infants at once while continuing to raise our four-year-old and one-year-old. What an honor, a privilege and a challenge. Thank You Lord! We're up for it!
Matt reentered the room and our technician told him he'd better sit down. I thought that strange until she followed up with, "it may take us a while to get through all of this". He handed her the disc and cleared my stuff off a chair by the bed. Just as the technician was about to put the wand back on my belly, she held up two fingers. My eyes grew big. Matt said, "What?" I echoed Matt, "Wait, what? What?!" He put his head in his hand saying he was going to faint--he'd previously said if it was a girl he'd faint. "You faint? I'm going to faint!" It seems that my initial glimpse was true. I thought I'd seen two spines. "Yeah," said the technician, "there's two babies in there and I believe they're both boys!" Matt looked up from his hand and with a deep, disturbed-sounding voice said, "What?" Pause. "Two?" Matt had misinterpreted the technician's signal to mean "V" for, well...a girl. It was funny for me to catch on, begin to freak out, and then see Matt's reaction when he caught on to the fact that she was telling us that we have TWO babies, not just one.
Our TWINS!
In the days, no weeks, leading up to our appointment, I grew more and more nervous. I had NO clue what we were going to find out and I had no clue if we were having a boy or girl. I kept thinking that we were going to find out something wasn't right with the baby, like that it was missing a leg or something. As we sat waiting to be called back that afternoon, I was incredibly nervous, as prepared as possible for the unknown. Or so I thought.
The technician had stepped over to her computer to buy some time until Matt returned because she didn't want to continue until we both were aware of the surprise. As the news kept repeating in my head, I kept saying, "What? No way! What?" And yes, I confess, a number of "holy crap"s found their way into my speech that day, but mostly, "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!" Over and over, "Oh my gosh!" The wand danced about my belly, now pushing the cooling gel all about. Our eyes glued to the screen, we were now anxious to see the proof of the latter part of her announcement. Boys?! As the gray tone images became clear upon each little baby's "area", the truth of it all was black and white. There indeed ARE two babies and they ARE indeed both boys! Stunned doesn't even begin to explain what we felt. My choice word is "floored". By now, my whole body was shaking uncontrollably, not violently, just noticeably. "I'm shaking! Oh my gosh! Twins?!" The technician said that was my adrenaline working. No kidding?! The shaking continued, then I began to laugh. I couldn't look at Matt without laughing, so I tried not to look at him throughout the rest of the ultrasound. It was difficult.
Baby A is Caleb and Baby B is Christian.
We finished up the ultrasound, thanked the technician, and headed for the lobby with our little roll of photos and disc of images in hand. Sitting on the sofa in the waiting room before my midwife appointment, Matt and I just laughed, stared at each other and shared our shock. We left there feeling so floored, so thrown off, so completely caught off guard, it was like no other time we'd experienced.
Telling our families was unreal in its own sort of way, too. They all reacted with a similar sort of shock as we did, screams, stares of disbelief, and lots of, "What?"s. So now, here we are, midway through our third pregnancy, preparing for TWIN BOYS of all things! We've picked out names: Caleb Donald (Donald after my dad), and Christian Matthew (after Matt). Caleb and Christian. Our boys. Our boys. Our precious baby boys. Yup, I'm still working on getting used to it. I can now imagine two little baby boys in car seats in the back of the van, but it is still so hard to believe that I've got two little boys sharing a space in my belly. Matt's not even to the imagining part yet. I don't expect him to be until delivery day. Our wonderful technician that day said they appear to be identical twins, too, so we're curious as to how deep the "identical" part will show through when we finally get to meet them face-to-face. This might add a whole new dimension to our new challenge of being parents of not only two girls, but also twin boys. We are SO excited though, and cannot wait to do whatever we can to bring these boys as close to full-term as possible and deliver healthy babies into this world. We are also scared yet flattered that God would entrust us with the responsibility of caring for two infants at once while continuing to raise our four-year-old and one-year-old. What an honor, a privilege and a challenge. Thank You Lord! We're up for it!
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