Yeah, I’m shocked too. As a matter of fact, when I found out, I was SO SHOCKED that I yelled “WHAT THE F*CK?” in the ultrasound room. I kept laughing through the ultrasound. I am certain that the tech thought I was an insane person. I mean, she’s not wrong. BUT STILL.

After posting about our miscarriage story from January of 2020, my husband and I decided to start trying again to have another baby to complete our family. Don’t you know that we started trying in August and we also conceived in August. A miracle baby is what we were expecting!

Early on, I began to have dreams that I was having twins. My premonitions were strong and I told those close to me that knew I was pregnant “I SWEAR IT’S TWINS.” I was so rocked by my *sense* that I was having twins, that when I went in for a viability check at just over 6 weeks, I made a point to confirm, “There’s just one in there, right?” The ultrasound tech said yes. So I was just being crazy. I was DEFINITELY not mad about being wrong. So we moved along with life- grateful for a healthy babe with a strong heartbeat inside of me.

Now, this pregnancy has been WAY different than my pregnancy with Clara. I am notably 40 pounds heavier now, which I thought was maybe why my breath was being shortened, I was FEELING pain and exhaustion much earlier, and I have all-day nausea. With Clara, I could barely tell I was pregnant except that I was hungry and peeing all the time.

At just over 10 weeks, I had my first “actual” appointment with a midwife at my OBGYN practice. (This is normal practice that the first appt is with a nurse midwife or a nurse practitioner.) This midwife was one I hadn’t met with before, but she was nice, thorough, and eager to put my mind at ease. My OB office has a handheld ultrasound doppler that they use to check up on the baby for the appointments that are not connected to an ultrasound. This midwife was using the handheld on me, but since I do carry my weight in my midsection and the scan was abdominal, it was hard to see.

We could see the baby, a flicker of heartbeat, but she said she couldn’t get a very good read on the heartbeat, so she wanted me to see the ultrasound tech. Unfortunately, it was too late in the day and they were gone, so she asked if I would come back tomorrow and that they would make time for me. She said she wanted to give me reassurance since I had suffered a miscarriage and I was anxious.

When the office called me in the morning, they seemed much more urgent in needing to get me in. They told me I NEEDED to come in at the time they had available or I could go to the ER. I was like- whoa, she must have seen something a bit more concerning than she was leading on. I cried and cried, but my coworker came in early so I could go to my appointment. I had seen the baby move, seen the heartbeat, so I just wasn’t sure what to expect.

When I got settled in and the ultrasound began, I was looking at the screen like…wait a minute. Either the baby was moving around when she was moving the wand or…. And then the question from the tech that I will remember forever came.

“Did you know there are two?”

How do I answer that? YES I KNEW THERE WERE TWO. But also NO I DIDN’T THINK THERE WERE BECAUSE ANOTHER TECH ASSURED ME THERE WAS ONLY ONE! Instead, I said “WHAT THE F*CK?” and laughed while she was showing me things.

The babies had strong heartbeats. 153 and 173, respectively. I found out my twins are in separate sacs, but share a placenta, which makes the pregnancy a bit more high risk than if they each had their own placenta. They are identical, and their technical term is Monochorionic, Diamniotic / MonoDi.

So that’s our story. Brett and I were in absolute shock for a whole week. We couldn’t look at each other without being like WHAT IS HAPPENING? I think we are both getting used to the situation, warming to there being two, but it’s a lot to adjust to! We are planners. We plan our time, budgets, energy, everything. It’s like the universe wanted to say- NOT SO FAST! We get some say in this! And here we are. Expecting two.

I’ll take all the good vibes and prayers you can spare. We are fully aware of the risks that MonoDi twins can have. I will be seeing a maternal fetal medicine doctor biweekly for now, and then weekly moving forward. My body already hurts. I keep thinking about the high possibility of another NICU stay, and it pains me to think about! My wallet already hurts, but our hearts are full and we are blessed. We can’t wait to see how Clara, our sassy, independent two year old is going to be as a big sister to two!

I promise to keep you updated! You can see the video post below to see me answer a few of our FAQ since announcing a few days ago!