Things 1, 2, and 3...

July 26, 2014:

Today was the big gender reveal day.  Not that we are one of "those" people who have a special cake made, or have a party, but we did have an ultrasound done to check on the babies...yes, I did say babies.  My denial phase is still intact, and every visit to the OB or ultrasound, I am sure something is going to change, but not as of yet.  In fact, the last OB appointment, my doctor said, "you may want to begin accepting the fact that there are 2 babies...." So, I am working on that.

The twins are sitting "head to head"

Etta was a little less than patient during the scan, but Spencer did manage to at least keep her in the room without too much screaming, with the help of her favorite snack, red grapes.  This scan really helped me begin to accept that I really would have 3 kids under 3, and possibly 3 kids under 2, depending on when they would be born.  The stenographer painstakingly scanned each limb, internal organ, and couldn't find a defect in either baby.  I guess I have just seen too much in working at Primary Children's Hospital to automatically show optimism.  I seem to always remember the critically ill patients, and not the ones that did recover.  Anyway, this scan helped put my mind at ease a bit, except for the fact that we will be having 3 GIRLS!

Twin A:  Never stopped moving during the scan, and even "waved" to us.

Twin B:  A little less excited to meet the camera, and sat mostly still until she startled when hearing her own heartbeat and turned away.   

Etta helped us announce our pregnancy with her "Thing 1" shirt:

Perhaps you've heard rumors; and this one is true. That soon we will have a Thing 1 and Thing 2. But, wait just a minute, what's that we see? Not only Thing 2, but also a Thing 3!!

It worked!

May 4, 2014:

Today was the day that I got the call from fertility clinic...not the one I typically expect of "well, we will try again next cycle," but "It worked!  You are pregnant."  They also said that my HCG levels were very elevated, about 850 above the normal pregnancy number, so I would need to schedule an early ultrasound to make sure everything was OK.  They also said it "could mean multiples...."  The pregnancy news was met with excitement, but also some pretty strong reservations.  As we were beginning treatments again, my sister, Whitney, had her baby Jude after only 5 months of "cooking," and I was nervous for that possibility, as well as handling pregnancy with a spunky 18 month old.  And then there was the possibility of more than one.  I had jokingly said many times that I would like to have more than one baby at once so I wouldn't have so many rounds of fertility treatments.  As this became more of a reality in my mind, I reasoned with myself that it was hard enough to get pregnant with one, that two or more was just out of the question.

But, I have long since realized that I don't typically get a say in these type of matters, so I decided to choose optimism (with just a little skepticism).  That was until the "morning" (or all day & night) sickness hit.  I was pretty sure I might die, or invert my stomach from so much vomiting.  But, I am here writing this, so it didn't happen.

Adding to the nausea and sickness, I went to my first 6 week ultrasound appointment.  I guess I am a little tainted when it comes to optimism about having kids, and am usually sure they will find something wrong.  The doctor began the ultrasound and had trouble finding anything.  He said a couple of times that he just couldn't see anything in my uterus.  I was sure this was the case, and began my grieving process on the exam table.  However, a couple of seconds later, he said "oh...what have we done here?"  Now, what is THAT supposed to mean?  He ended up finding two yolk sacks, and said the probability of twins was high, and he would consider me pregnant with twins at the moment.  He also cautioned us, saying that sometimes, even though there are two sacks, things don't turn out.  I was happy with possibility of even just one, and so my denial of two began...