A Surreal Dream

 CAUTION: SUPER LONG post ahead!

Okay.  It's the "morning after", if you will, and boy, has my mind been on speed-dial!!

Yesterday seems like a surreal dream!

It was the single most life-altering day of my life, aside from accepting Christ as my Saviour, even more than getting married or getting the news that we were having our very first child.  I was handed the biggest, most incredible surprise of my entire existence yesterday, and I'm still trying to process things!! I'll try, in this post, to articulate some of the things that are running through my mind!

We do know with about 100% certainty that the babies are IDENTICAL!!! From here on out, we will refer to them as "The Babies" instead of "the girls", as that nickname is already taken by 6 OTHER girls!!

You all should have crowded into that dark, peaceful room with me yesterday just to see my face!!!

I have to tell you that I was scared to get on the table, for fear there was something wrong with my baby.  I stood there for a good 10 seconds looking down on that bed....until the tech touched my arm and said "this is going to be good! It's going to be okay."  So, I laid down.

I had told her that I thought I was fairly large for where I was in my pregnancy and that I had never been as large, and she asked me if I was sure I was only having one.  Of course I was sure! Dr W had only found one baby all those weeks ago, and only one heartbeat thus far.......

I was totally prepared to see that we were having a boy.  I thought that's why I was having such severe symptoms, and why this pregnancy has been so different so far.......

*Excuse me while I laugh out loud!*

You ought to have seen the office staff looking at me so funny, when I walked in.  I'm certain they knew right away that I was carrying twins.  This office specializes in multiple, high risk pregnancies.  Oh, they knew, and so did the tech, as soon as she came out to the waiting room to get me.  I waited in the waiting room for oh, about 3 seconds!!

After I laid down,  she said, "well, let's see if there's only one baby in there."  My son, who I brought with me, sat down in the chair and she squirted the warm, wet gel on my tummy.  She put the wand on my tummy, and her first words were.......

"There's two babies.  You're going to have twins!"  Her voice was quiet and confident and totally sweet.

I said, "you're joking!!!"

She said, "no, I'm not!" I then said, "of course you wouldn't joke about something like that!"

And, I immediately and shamelessly burst into tears! I looked at Russell and said, "call Daddy NOW!"  Then I asked the tech if we could actually use our cell phone in the room!!! We called Daddy and Russell handed the phone to me.  I just couldn't stop crying! He could barely understand me.  Our conversation went something like this:

Me: "Are you sitting down?"
Him: "No, I'm at my case.  What's up?"
Me:  (sobbing pretty good by now) "We're having twins!"
Him: "No Way!"
Me:  "We're having TWIN GIRLS!" (because right after she told me there were two, she zoomed in on bottoms and sure enough, there were no *ahem* "appendages" on either Baby!)
Him: "O My Gosh!" Are you serious?"
Then he started laughing hysterically.  My husband laughs and paces when he's nervous.

We talked to each other several times on the phone yesterday.  I think the shock hasn't worn off for him. He is uber-busy at work, working 11 hour days, 6 days a week and doing a music project on the side that has to be done by Friday......he's a bit preoccupied right now!! It hasn't sunk in with him yet.

I tell you all that I cried for most of the ultrasound, which was pretty short, since I needed to talk to the doctor and start at the beginning with them.  Heck, I cried for most of the DAY!!

I will continue care with Dr Whelan in my hometown, but The Babies and I will receive most of our care from Dr Winkler, who practices south of here.  From my house right now, his office is an hour and 16 minutes away!! Talk about being far away from the hospital! I thought three blocks was far!!

The hospital is adjacent to my new doctor's office, accessible by a sky bridge!! It is brand new and has state-of-the-art care for me and The Babies.  I will be going down there every two weeks.  I will be getting ultrasounds every two weeks.  With identical twins, there is a risk, 20%, of Twin-Twin Transfusion, which I had read a teenie bit about in the past.  We will be watching The Babies very, very closely, and watching me, due to my nice and extensive history.  You ought to see my folders at my regular OB's office! There's a Volume 1 AND a Volume 2!!

Suffice it to say that these Babies CANNOT be born at home! The tech, who is a twin mom herself, told me that twins typically are born at 34-36 weeks.  And that they tend to be smaller than a "singleton" baby.  I told the doctor how far I lived from them and how my last baby was born on the toilet.  I could see his wheels turning!! I'm going to be a fun patient for him!!

I will be monitored closely for pre-term labor, as already my uterus is very, VERY heavy!! My uterus is measuring 6-8 weeks ahead.  So, NO WONDER I'm feeling like I'm 6 or 7 months pregnant!!! DUH!!

She said that I needed to be prepared for potential bed rest, according to how my cervix was acting, and it could be hospital bed rest, seeing as how far we live away from the hospital.  The doctor said that if I was to go into labor at 35 weeks, I could potentially deliver at my old hospital......hmm, no thanks, the changes at my old hospital make it a wrong choice now for us.

We have names for The Babies.  Baby A, who is down over my cervix, sitting transverse, is Pennie Jane. She is rather behind and under Baby B, who's head is snug up under my left rib and is sitting straight up.  Baby B is Olivia Caroline.  We love these names!! The potential for nicknames is fun!!!

Pennie Jane and Olivia Caroline.  I can scarcely believe I just typed that.  Surreal.

I will go back to Dr Winkler in two weeks, actually 13 days, for a more extensive work up on The Babies.  This will be the new plan till at least 26 weeks.  So, I'll be doing a lot of traveling, in my husband's old 1987 Pontiac 6000 work car!!! Awesome.  Such luxury.  *Cough Cough, choke choke!*

I'll end this post now.  Believe me, there IS a part two!!!

My son left for a bit during one part of the ultrasound to explore the hospital and gift shop, and he thought it was the neatest place and said I ought to deliver there! (Everyone, relax! The "boy" is almost 16 years old.  Yeah, I figure it's safe now to let him roam!!!)

My son's face, on hearing that he was going to have twin sisters, was so precious and so priceless! His mouth hung open and his eyes got really big! He asked a lot of questions, and I loooove that!!!

I'd love for you to follow us on this new road we're on! I told Dave yesterday to fasten his seatbelt, he's in for the ride of his life!!!! And I sense that I will never be the same, and that God is about to do a major work in our lives!!!