Buy one, get one free? Sure thing. I guess God wanted to let us know he loved a good bargain, too. Two babies in one pregnancy. Otherwise known as twins.
The surprise of our lives happened at the end of October. I was 11 weeks along. There is a more personal story that goes along with how we found out about our two little pumpkins. I would like to keep that part private and hopefully you, my dear readers, can respect that. Just know that the way we found out was special.
Special, but completely shocking. We had no reason to suspect twins. At all. This whole journey has all been surprising and quick, so twins never crossed our minds. Often mothers carrying twins experience more severe symptoms like morning sickness, exhaustion and fatigue because there is just so much more going on. I had a few days here and there of nausea....less than almost all mom's of singletons experience. I even measured a normal size for a singleton at my first appointment. And while there are some twins in Mr. BKL's extended family, I have since learned that the fathers heredity has nothing to do with twins. Identical twins are completely spontaneous and fraternal twins are the result of two fertilized eggs. Twins can be passed down on the mother's side causing hyper ovulation (two eggs), but the father has no part in the multiples factor.
The emotions have run the gamut from overjoyed, shocked, overwhelmed, anxious, happy, concerned, and nervous. I would say I experience all of those still on a daily basis. And about once a day saying the word "babies" instead of "baby" causes disbelief. There are two babies growing inside me. Wow.
I have to take a second to get all sappy about my husband. Maybe it's cliché, and maybe all pregnant women experience this, but I can't believe how lucky I am to be going through all this with him. He truly is a partner and I know we are in this together and I will never feel alone. He will be there through all the sleepless nights, changing diapers, feeding, swaddling, rocking, protecting and caring for his family. The three of us are grateful already.
Before I knew it was twins, I didn't want to find out. I still think about not knowing the day they are born, and how exciting it would be. But I quickly changed my mind to being beyond excited to know what they are. Well, we found out on Friday that we have healthy, fraternal twins. One boy and one girl. One of each. We feel beyond blessed and I am bursting at the seams with excitement...I couldn't wait any longer to announce it.
My first boy/girl purchase…tiny socks.
Another amazing thing about twins is how much food I am supposed to be eating. Lots of research abounds that shows gaining 20 pounds by 20 weeks helps grow big babies. The goal of twins is to make sure they are large enough at the end to be healthy for the outside world. Most twins are born between 4-6 pounds. The thought is if I can gain weight, the babies have a better chance of getting to a good size early when there is still room in the womb (heh) to develop. At the end things just get crowded, so they don't have as much space to grow those little bodies. So far, I think I am on track. It's been hard letting go of everything I know about eating and what I have been trying to maintain all these years. It's not about me now, and it won't be for a very long time. Might as well get used to it, right Mom's?
As for running and exercise, of course carrying twins makes everything riskier. I haven't been told not to run yet, but I know that soon it will be just too uncomfortable. As I grow, there is more pressure on everything. It's estimated that your size when pregnant with twins is to measure about 8 weeks ahead. So if I am 18 weeks, my size is more like 26. Eventually I will just walk. And after that I might just rest. After all, I have my 3/4's of my family to think about.
