My OB knew that I was still very nervous, so she scheduled me for an ultrasound at 5w1d. I remember craning my neck to try to see the screen while the sonographer was scanning me. I also remember her asking me if I had undergone fertility treatments, but I didn't think much of it at that point in time. She finally turned the screen toward me and pointed to a dark circle with a little white spot inside of it. She said that the circle was a gestational sac, and we could see a yolk sac inside that would eventually be the placenta. I stared at the screen and saw that there was a second black circle. I asked what that was, and she told me that she wasn't sure. She couldn't call it a gestational sac because there wasn't a yolk in it, but that didn't mean that one wouldn't develop because it was still so early. Basically there were two possibilities: 1) that sac would disappear for a variety of reasons, or 2) we were having twins!
Because of the possibility of twins, I went back for a second ultrasound at 7w2d. This time, Wei-Yand came with me. It only took about 30 seconds for the sonographer to say, "Congratulations! You're definitely pregnant, and it's twins." Since we knew that was a possibility, I don't think I was quite as shocked as I would have been otherwise, but finding out we were having twins was still a surprise. We got to see two beautiful little hearts beating away on the screen, but you can't see much else at that point in a pregnancy.
Morning sickness set in right around that time, and it was pretty rough until about week 23. Everything continued to progress normally. I got to hear one heartbeat at 11 weeks. We couldn't tell for sure if we heard the second one, but their heart rates were very close for most of the pregnancy, so we might have heard both. I got to see the babies again at 16 weeks, and they actually looked like babies! It was so exciting to get to see them and get that visual reassurance that things were progressing well.
Baby A - 16 weeks
Baby B - 16 weeks
We had our anatomy scan the day after Thanksgiving at 20 weeks. My mom and Wei-Yand both came. I had a feeling that both babies were girls, and my instincts turned out to be correct. We also found out that both babies were healthy and measuring big for their gestational age.
I had lots of extra ultrasounds throughout my pregnancy because all twin pregnancies are considered high risk and my doctors wanted to closely monitor the babies' growth to make sure that one didn't start lagging behind the other. Starting at 32 weeks, I also had a non-stress test every Tuesday and a bio-physical profile every Friday. During the NST's I had monitors strapped to my belly to monitor the babies' heart rates and to monitor contractions. The BPP's were ultrasounds that looked at the babies' movement, practice breathing, and amniotic fluid levels. The babies were rock stars and passed every test. Baby A did like to be stubborn sometimes. She was often sleeping during the BPP's so we had to prod her to get her to move.
One of the big risks with a twin pregnancy is pre-term labor, so I was certain that the babies were going to come early. The babies, however, had different plans. I worked until 36 weeks, and I thought there was a very good chance I would have my babies within the first we or so of being on leave. I got put on bedrest the day my maternity leave started, and I ended up having to schedule an induction for 38w6d. I never thought I would carry the girls for that long, but I'm very grateful that I did. I spent a lot of time on the internet during my pregnancy, and I read so many stories about twins being born early and requiring NICU time.
My last bump pic - 38 weeks
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