One year, part two

One year ago today I found out that we were adding not one, but two more little beetles to our family. After finding out our prayers had been answered and we were going to make Ben a big brother (One year, part One), I spent the next two weeks anxiously awaiting our ultrasound where we would hopefully hear one sweet heartbeat. While I was blissfully happy after finding out I was pregnant, I was also a bit of a nervous wreck. Even though my doctor and nurses did their best to reassure me that this looked like a healthy pregnancy, part of me was so worried that our dreams could collapse at any second.

I anxiously awaited the big day. It helped that we spent the week before the ultrasound in Canada on vacation with Chris' family. We shared our happy news with Grammie C, Grampie J, Auntie Kathryn and Uncy J and let them know that they were going for round two in their grandparent and aunt/uncle duties. As the trip went on the fam (I think it was Chris's dad and brother in particular) started wondering if perhaps I was baking more than one bun in the oven because they had never seen me pack away so much food! I assured everyone that I just "knew" there was only one sweet little babe in there (shows how much I know!).

The day of the ultrasound, Chris and I headed into the appointment. I was so nervous and wanted nothing more than to see a healthy little heartbeat flickering away on the screen. The nurse came in first and explained what the doctor would be looking for (I think she said the baby would like like a grain of rice). She left and it felt like forever before the doctor arrived. He spent the first hour few minutes checking things out, not saying much. This also felt like forever and I finally asked him if the baby was ok. After a few seconds, he replied "well, there they are. You've got twins in there." I started crying immediately. I had hoped and prayed to see one little heartbeat and could hardly believe it when there were two. Chris had the biggest smile and was definitely the calmer of the two of us. We met with the doctor afterwards, he gave us a bit of information on twins, said congratulations and released me to my regular OB. After spending so much time in and out of that office it felt strange to say good bye.

We started our list of phone calls as soon as we got back to the car. Our closest family and a couple friends knew we were having the ultrasound that morning and everyone was waiting for an update to hear how the baby looked. We called my mom first...I think the first words out of my mouth were: "We just got a really good buy one get one special, we're having twins!" She started crying and then I started crying and so it went. Chris' parents were next, Carol said "we knew it!" My dad had been in a meeting and when I finally was able to tell him he was going to be a papa x2 he was very quiet and said "where are you going to find room to put all those babies?" I thought he meant in our house, but he was worried about me and how my belly would carry two babies. Our siblings were next on the list, it was so much fun to share the news with them. Finally, I called my dearest friend Katie, who has twins herself. I could tell she was waiting for my call and when she answered, I told her "well, looks like I am going to be needing A LOT of advice from you!" She knew right away what that meant and of course lots of happy screaming, laughing and crying followed (Chris still isn't sure how either of us understood what the other said during that conversation, but we did!)

We spent the next days so incredibly happy. We contemplated when we would tell Ben that not only was he going to be a big brother, but he was going to be a big brother to TWO babies. We ended up telling him the following week. I will never forget when he got to make his OWN twin announcement. Our good friends the Smiths came over for dinner. They also happened to be expecting their first baby and knew we had been hoping to add to our family for some time. Chris told them we had very good news to share and that I was expecting. I leaned down and whispered to Ben to tell them how many babies we were having. He held up two little fingers and yelled "TWO BABIES!" If you can't guess, more tears followed!

One year ago today, I fell in love with my sweet babies. My only hope was to give Ben the gift of a sibling, to give him two was an amazing blessing. February 6th, 2012 will always be remembered...I think my heart swelled to twice it's size when I "saw" my sweet Sammie and Harper "rice" for the first time.