An Announcement

This post requires a back story...

Long ago, before Shannon and I got married, we agreed on a few things:
1. We would invest more in our house than we would on any vehicles.
2. We did not believe in celebrating Valentine's Day.
3. We definitely wanted to have more than one child, and we didn't want them to be too far apart.

Regarding rule number 3, we had a slight difference of opinions. Shannon wanted to have two children, while I was thinking that I probably wanted three. So we decided that we'd discuss the option when we got there. "Let's have two," we said, "and then decide where to go from there."

Fast Forward 2 years:
After Adam was born, we were surprised about just how much energy and mischief could be contained within one baby. We frequently mused in exhaustion, "I just don't know how people do it with twins." It was a once a week kind of statement.

Fast Forward another year:
In July of last year, I was told that it would probably be difficult for me to get pregnant due to suspected endometriosis. I was, of course, discouraged by the suggestion, and planned to seek treatment before the end of 2011. In fact, they scheduled a surgery for me in October, but I cancelled it, feeling like it wasn't quite the time to panic and resolved to wait a few more months and see what happens. I had never been so quick to evaluate my life plans, mourn the loss of them, and then rearrange them to fit with the reality in front of me. Rebounding, I believe people call it.

That is, I had never before evaluated so quickly until November 28.

This brings me to the present. And as you have probably surmised from the introduction, I have some big news.

On November 9, while on a work trip to Orlando, I discovered I am pregnant.
On November 28, at my first ultrasound, I discovered I am pregnant with twins.
On December 7, I found a new doctor.

On February 1, we may be able to find out whether Adam is getting 2 younger brothers, 2 younger sisters, or a younger brother and a younger sister. We know that they are fraternal, which helps to reduce a lot of the possible complications (some, not all) that can happen with twin pregnancies. If all goes well and the pregnancy goes to full term, Adam will be about 2 years, 2 months older than they are. We will have THREE babies. How exciting and terrifying all at the same time.

I am a few days away from being 14 weeks along, and already starting to show. For the last 9 weeks I have had a 24 hour dose of every single pregnancy symptom that exists, the most confusing of all being extremely nauseated and starving at the same time, all the time. For about a month, besides barely functioning at work, I would lie in bed in misery while Shannon took care of everything at home. I'm finally starting to be a more productive member of the family again, in spurts.

We spent at least a month in total shock, barely even talking about it. Mostly, I was nervous - not only am I concerned about another life tagging along with me, I'm concerned about TWO lives. Then we got to see them again at the 11 week appointment, and it sealed the reality and happiness for us. Now we are evaluating our budget, our childcare options, our vehicles, our jobs, our storage space, our parenting style, and we are seeking out gently used baby things that we can buy from our friends, because apparently when you decide "the second one won't be as expensive because we already have all the stuff...", that doesn't always hold true!

The two questions I get the most are:
Does it run in your family? No, it doesn't. With fraternal twins it can be passed down on the mother's side, but there is no trend in my family... until now.
Were you taking anything, like fertility drugs? Nope, no drugs.

I'm due July 18, but for twins the hope is to carry them as long as possible, and I'm crossing my fingers that we make it to July 1st or later. The doctors think that might be no problem considering how my pregnancy went with Adam, so we will see.

So the moral of the story is that doctors are not always right, that God made our "2-or-3-Kids?" decision for us, and that if you ask often enough "how people do it with twins," you might just get to find out first hand.  All in all, we are thrilled, albeit nervous, and are happy that we are moving into the second trimester and where every doctor's appointment so far has shown healthy babies with strong heartbeats, lots of movement ("whoa, they are active" has been said more than once), and no abnormalities so far.