The moment finally arrived this morning for the first ultrasound!! The verdict:
Healthy TWINS!!!!
Grant and Russ met us at the doctors office this morning. They drove down yesterday and stayed at Russ's mom's last night, then drove from her place about two hours north of here this morning. Sorrell and the kids came with me. It's a family affair and my whole entourage was there. The kids were just as excited to see the picture of the baby as we were.
Initially, Grant, Russ and I went into the office with one of the staff to go over the preliminary stuff. We covered my medical history, what testing we were going to have done, the process of the pregnancy and appointments and all of that fun administrative type stuff you do. Then came time for the fun!
Grant and Russ stepped out to the waiting area while I did my weight and urine and then got undressed in the ultrasound room. The assistant then had everyone pile into the room. She began the ultrasound and there was one, healthy baby. We saw the little heart beating and she determined that it was beating at 171 bpm.
It was only as she was finishing up that she seemed to pause and then search some more when I thought I saw two separate sacks. I knew that's what she saw too and was maneuvering the probe to determine if it was indeed twins or just the sonogram playing tricks on our eyes. Finally, she got it into a position that allowed us to clearly see the true story...two very definitive sacks, with two babies and two heartbeats! She said, "I have a surprise for you!"
It was such an emotional moment for all of us. Grant and Russ were happy with one healthy baby but now they had just found out that they were getting two, which is what they had really been hoping for! Tears fell all around with smiles.
Healthy TWINS!!!!
Grant and Russ met us at the doctors office this morning. They drove down yesterday and stayed at Russ's mom's last night, then drove from her place about two hours north of here this morning. Sorrell and the kids came with me. It's a family affair and my whole entourage was there. The kids were just as excited to see the picture of the baby as we were.
Initially, Grant, Russ and I went into the office with one of the staff to go over the preliminary stuff. We covered my medical history, what testing we were going to have done, the process of the pregnancy and appointments and all of that fun administrative type stuff you do. Then came time for the fun!
Grant and Russ stepped out to the waiting area while I did my weight and urine and then got undressed in the ultrasound room. The assistant then had everyone pile into the room. She began the ultrasound and there was one, healthy baby. We saw the little heart beating and she determined that it was beating at 171 bpm.
It was only as she was finishing up that she seemed to pause and then search some more when I thought I saw two separate sacks. I knew that's what she saw too and was maneuvering the probe to determine if it was indeed twins or just the sonogram playing tricks on our eyes. Finally, she got it into a position that allowed us to clearly see the true story...two very definitive sacks, with two babies and two heartbeats! She said, "I have a surprise for you!"
It was such an emotional moment for all of us. Grant and Russ were happy with one healthy baby but now they had just found out that they were getting two, which is what they had really been hoping for! Tears fell all around with smiles.
That all being said, I am surprisingly okay with everything. I had expected myself to feel slightly disheartened if it was determined to be twins. So much so that my good friend, Lisa, and I had agreed that if it did turn out to be so, we'd get together and have a good cry over it and then move on. Why? Because for someone who has no problem having surgeries or with needles or going to the doctor or anything like that, when it comes to births, I'm extremely anti-intervention and I was afraid that twins would mean cesarean.
True, I went into this knowing that was a possibility and accepting that but I still secretly had been hoping for a single baby to cut those chances way down. However, I wasn't worried about that at all today. It was the farthest thing from my mind. Seeing the tears of joy on Grant and Russ's faces and the way they embraced each other when the first heartbeat was seen and then the excitement that came over them again when we realized it was twins far outweighed any surgery worries that I may have had.
Here was this sincere, loving, wonderful couple who wanted nothing more than to bring these tiny little babies into their home and give them the same unconditional love that they had for each other and I was the vessel that would bring this dream of theirs to reality. I was carrying life for these two individuals who otherwise would be unable to do so. In that very instant, I subconsciously realized that I had no reason to be so selfish as to have any desire to take this joy they were experiencing away from them just so I could maybe be a little more comfortable or feel better about the delivery experience.
Later I began thinking about it on a more conscious level and reasoned that 1) a c-section is far from the most invasive procedure I've ever had and all I'd really suffer from is a few more days of downtime and discomfort should it be necessary and 2) there are plenty of steps that I can take to try to insure that at least Baby A is head down come time for delivery and if it is, I still have my chance for vaginal delivery anyway.
I have my next appointment in two weeks and at that time, I'll actually meet with one of the three doctors in my OB/Gyn's office. I plan to immediately address two issues. How do they feel about vaginal twin deliveries provided Baby A is head down and everything else is kosher up to that point? And I also have to ask how having the two little babies instead of one will affect my running. (I've been training for a half marathon for some time now, running anywhere from 10-25 miles a week.) I've heard that as long as there aren't any other issues along the way and I listen to my body, I should be okay up until about 24 weeks before I need to really stop and take it easy but I need to verify that with my doctor.
I just got the congratulatory call from Dr. Kaufmann! He is very excited for me, said that Grant and Russ are ecstatic, and told me that they all agreed that they love me and know I'll take great care of these babies. How could it get better than this?
True, I went into this knowing that was a possibility and accepting that but I still secretly had been hoping for a single baby to cut those chances way down. However, I wasn't worried about that at all today. It was the farthest thing from my mind. Seeing the tears of joy on Grant and Russ's faces and the way they embraced each other when the first heartbeat was seen and then the excitement that came over them again when we realized it was twins far outweighed any surgery worries that I may have had.
Here was this sincere, loving, wonderful couple who wanted nothing more than to bring these tiny little babies into their home and give them the same unconditional love that they had for each other and I was the vessel that would bring this dream of theirs to reality. I was carrying life for these two individuals who otherwise would be unable to do so. In that very instant, I subconsciously realized that I had no reason to be so selfish as to have any desire to take this joy they were experiencing away from them just so I could maybe be a little more comfortable or feel better about the delivery experience.
Later I began thinking about it on a more conscious level and reasoned that 1) a c-section is far from the most invasive procedure I've ever had and all I'd really suffer from is a few more days of downtime and discomfort should it be necessary and 2) there are plenty of steps that I can take to try to insure that at least Baby A is head down come time for delivery and if it is, I still have my chance for vaginal delivery anyway.
I have my next appointment in two weeks and at that time, I'll actually meet with one of the three doctors in my OB/Gyn's office. I plan to immediately address two issues. How do they feel about vaginal twin deliveries provided Baby A is head down and everything else is kosher up to that point? And I also have to ask how having the two little babies instead of one will affect my running. (I've been training for a half marathon for some time now, running anywhere from 10-25 miles a week.) I've heard that as long as there aren't any other issues along the way and I listen to my body, I should be okay up until about 24 weeks before I need to really stop and take it easy but I need to verify that with my doctor.
I just got the congratulatory call from Dr. Kaufmann! He is very excited for me, said that Grant and Russ are ecstatic, and told me that they all agreed that they love me and know I'll take great care of these babies. How could it get better than this?